Older adults’ user experience with introvert and extravert humanoid robot personalities

Abstract

Humanoid robots can be an effective tool for the cognitive training of older adults. For this purpose, it is important that their interaction be engaging. In this study, we investigate whether proposing robots exhibiting extraverted or introverted personalities can improve user experience. In particular, we have designed and implemented a set of multi-modal cues for such personality traits, which have been exploited in an application proposing typical exercises for cognitive training through a Pepper robot. We report on a user test with 24 older adults (65 +), which provided interesting and positive feedback regarding how the robot personalities have been exhibited and their impact on the experience of such users.