On Improving the Acceptance of Intelligent Companion Robots Among Chinese Empty-Nesters with the Application of Emotional Design

Abstract

With the number of the elderly population over the age of 65 reaching 190 million (13.5%), China has become the country with the largest number of senior citizens in the world, and its percentage is entering the accelerating period. With the addition of the features of economic society, over half of them are “empty-nesters”, so the problem of supporting the elderly at high age has become an important issue that needs to be further solved. However, due to the different national conditions and traditional culture in China, the acceptance of “companion robots for seniors” is significantly lower than that of other countries such as Europe, America and Japan. There are many reasons for this, but the main problem lies in the lack of integration into the user's life, but like a “cold machine” lacking human’s emotional temperature. This study aims to use the users’ life situation and emotional temperature as the entry point to integrate technology with life, so as to enhance the acceptance of companion robots among Chinese seniors. Based on the concept of User-centered Design (UCD), the author interviewed seniors in the field and interpreted their life patterns, situation skeleton and behavioral patterns with empathy to gain insight into users’ emotional needs and expectations. Then, the author designed, defined and conceived 12 different functional programs based on users’ needs and expectations. At last, the Kano model was used to confirm the property category and the importance of the value significance of the 12 functional programs to the users.