A methodological approach to evaluate elderly-robot interactions

The relevance in the study of interaction between elderly and robots may depend on the choice of activities that robots can be developed to perform and the assessment of their impact and importance for older people. This research requires coordinated research between computer engineers and specialists in the humanities and social sciences. Being a recent research area, it is particularly relevant to carefully select the behavioural variables to be analyzed, the methodology adopted and the instruments that allow for a rigorous evaluation. Based on these assumptions, the present study aims to develop Innovative Initiatives for the Promotion of Active Aging in the EUROACE Region. The authors propose an appropriate methodology and instruments to evaluate the impact of the human-robot interaction in the promotion of a more active aging in a group of elderly in a nursing home. The analyzed variables focus on the involvement of the elderly in the activities, their capacity for initiative and to establish social interactions, indicators of well-being and a proactive attitude. The methodology of the study is mixed (qualitative and quantitative), organized as an exploratory case study. Data collection is based on naturalistic observation but variables are quantitatively assessed in a pre/post-test design. The research design identified the narratives of the elderly and the staff of the institution regarding the needs and interests of each elderly person, classified the participants according to the levels of prevailing social interactions, involvement and initiative in activities, considered important variables for an active ageing and, in this sense, demonstrated its adequacy to be used to evaluate the results of the intervention using social assistive robots.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of Educational Gaming and Robotics in Teaching and Learning Process

The development of technology has resulted in the development of many assistive tools employed to facilitate education. Amongst these technologically enhanced tools developed for education are games and robots. This paper examines the application of educational games and robots through review of available literature. The areas of application of games and robots in education have been presented. The paper further highlights some challenges encountered in the deployment of games and robotics in education

Social robots in cognitive interventions. Advances, problems and perspectives

Social Assistive Robots are being used in therapeutic interventions for elderly people affected by cognitive impairments. The present paper reports our research lines aiming at investigating the role of a social robot in aiding therapists during cognitive stimulation sessions for elders with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Mild Dementia. We review our studies whose results show that social robots have been positively accepted by the seniors in different experiments. Participants were very attentive and involved in the sessions’ tasks and their experience was mainly positive. Our data suggest that this technology can be a valid tool to support psychotherapists in cognitive stimulation interventions emphasizing the need of multidisciplinary approaches combining assessment of behavior and robotics

A Cloud Robotics Solution to Improve Social Assistive Robots for Active and Healthy Aging

Technological innovation in robotics and ICT represents an effective solution to tackle the challenge of providing social sustainable care services for the ageing population. The recent introduction of cloud technologies is opening new opportunities for the provisioning of advanced robotic services based on the cooperation of a number of connected robots, smart environments and devices improved by the huge cloud computational and storage capability. In this context, this paper aims to investigate and assess the potentialities of a cloud robotic system for the provisioning of assistive services for the promotion of active and healthy ageing. The system comprised two different smart environments, located in Italy and Sweden, where a service robot is connected to a cloud platform for the provisioning of localization based services to the users. The cloud robotic services were tested in the two realistic environments to assess the general feasibility of the solution and demonstrate the ability to provide assistive location based services in a multiple environment framework. The results confirmed the validity of the solution but also suggested a deeper investigation on the dependability of the communication technologies adopted in such kind of systems

Describing how technology can help nurses in providing care in elderly settings : A systematic literature review

Nurses plays an important role in promoting elderly care and supporting their health and their overall functionality regularly. It involves monitoring of vital signs, long term diseases, and their mental and physical functions. The study is to describe how technology can help Nurses to cope with care needs of growing elderly population. The study can be useful for nurses on ways to reduce workload by use of technology. Aim is to explore how technology incorporation in elderly care help elderly to live safe and secured independently while reducing burden and workload on health care professionals. The study was investigated by systematic literature review using qualitative systematic literature review. Inductive and deductive methods were used to find the correct information. Katie Eriksson Caritative care theory was used as background on concept of care which provide guideline on how real care is done by caritas. Three themes were discussed in this study which are Assistive technology, monitoring technology and Social assistive robo

Enabling Social Interaction Through Embodiment in ExCITE

No abstract availableThe emerging demographic trends toward an aging population involve an unflagging research of ways of assisting elderly people to stay independent for as long as possible. This means to be active at home and in the labour market, to prevent social isolation and promote societal inclusion. Both ICT and robotics technologies can contribute to help achieving these goals. This paper introduces the aims of the Ambient Assisted Living project ExCITE whose main objective is to enhance a robotic platform for telepresence with features enabling social interaction from a domestic environment to the outside world. The whole ExCITE project uses a user-centered approach hence it evolves around an intensive evaluation to be performed in situ, on a PanEuropean scale. An existing prototype, called Giraff, is to be deployed to targeted end-users, and refined taking into account outcome of the evaluation. This paper introduces the objectives of ExCITE and offers a description of its initial activities particularly focused on the user evaluation