Measuring perceived adaptiveness in a robotic eldercare companion

Based on observations in previous experiments with a robotic companion in eldercare and on findings in related literature, we developed the concept of Perceived Adaptiveness. We integrated this in our technology acceptance methodology for robotic eldercare companions and found in a small experiment that adaptiveness of the system as perceived by elderly users is indeed a relevant item, being a direct influence on Perceived Usefulness

The influence of social presence on enjoyment and intention to use of a robot and screen agent by elderly users

When using a robot or a screen agent, elderly users might feel more enjoyment if they experience a stronger social presence. In two experiments with a robotic agent and a screen agent (both n=30) this relationship between these two concepts could be established. Besides, both studies showed that social presence correlates with the Intention to Use the system, although there were some differences between the agents. This implicates that factors that influence social presence are relevant when designing assistive agents for elderly people

Testing refinements by refining tests

One of the potential benefits of formal methods is that they offer the possibility of reducing the costs of testing. A specification acts as both the benchmark against which any implementation is tested, and also as the means by which tests are generated. There has therefore been interest in developing test generation techniques from formal specifications, and a number of different methods have been derived for state based languages such as Z, B and VDM. However, in addition to deriving tests from a formal specification, we might wish to refine the specification further before its implementation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between testing and refinement. As our model for test generation we use a DNF partition analysis for operations written in Z, which produces a number of disjoint test cases for each operation. In this paper we discuss how the partition analysis of an operation alters upon refinement, and we develop techniques that allow us to refine abstract tests in order to generate test cases for a refinement. To do so we use (and extend existing) methods for calculating the weakest data refinement of a specification

Beyond Speculative Robot Ethics

In this article we develop a dialogue model for robot technology experts and designated users to discuss visions on the future of robotics in long-term care. Our vision assessment study aims for more distinguished and more informed visions on future robots. Surprisingly, our experiment also lead to some promising co-designed robot concepts in which jointly articulated moral guidelines are embedded. With our model we think to have designed an interesting response on a recent call for a less speculative ethics of technology by encouraging discussions about the quality of positive and negative visions on the future of robotics.