Seniors’ Appreciation of Humanoid Robots

Abstract

This paper is positioned inside a research project investigating elders’ preferences and acceptance toward robots, in order to collect insights for the design and implementation of socially assistive robots. To this aim, short video clips of five manufactured robots (Roomba, Nao, Pepper, Ishiguro, and Erica) were shown to 100 seniors (50 Female) aged 65+ years (average age: 71.34 years, DS: ±5.60). After watching each robot video clip, seniors were administered a short questionnaire assessing their willingness to interact with robots, feelings robots aroused, and duties they would entrust to robots. The questionnaire’s scores were assessed through repeated measures ANOVA in order to ascertain statistically significant differences among seniors’ preferences. A clear uncanny valley effect was identified. The robot Pepper received significantly higher scores than Roomba, Nao, Ishiguro, and Erica on communication skills, ability to remind friendly and pleasant memories, comprehension, and ability to provide emotional support. In addition, Pepper was considered the most suitable, among the five proposed robots, in performing welfare duties for elders, children and disabled, protection and security, and front desk occupations.