Older Adults’ Activity on Creative Problem Solving with Modular Robotics

Abstract

Older adults are challenged in their adoption of new ways of interacting with different type of devices including not only screen-based artifacts but also augmented reality and robotic technologies. The diversity of the devises in relation to the adoption process engage older adults in a creative exploration process when they face new technologies. We analyze the creative problem-solving (CPS) process in the context of modular robotics technologies by focusing on divergent thinking. We first introduce divergent thinking within the scope of creative problem-solving process and then we analyze the results in relation to the three main components of divergent thinking in CPS: fluidity, flexibility, and originality. We evaluate fluidity, flexibility, and originality by engaging 342 participants according to their age. Results shows older adults and children show higher fluidity than adolescents, young adults and adults but also take more time to complete the CPS task.