I want one too! Domestication of Assistive Robots

Abstract in UndeterminedThe aim of the PhD project is to understand and learn about the characteristics that influence old adults’ acceptance of assistive robots and of robots as social companions. It is also to explore participatory design methods in order to involve old adults in the design process of new technologies. The goal is to apply/implement the results in two robotics systems developed to support old adults in their homes.Through an interactive multi-step design process, a design specification of a robot will be proposed. A first prototype will then be built based on this specification. The prototype will be tested and evaluated with “real” users in a lab setting. The findings will result in an improved design specification and a second prototype will then be built and evaluated by users in their home environments

Old Adults and Robots

Abstract What happens if you put assistive robots in the hands of old adults? Will they accept or reject the robot? If they accept the robot, in which ways will the robot change the everyday lives of old adults? Old adults have a lifetime of experience technological changes. Seniors have adopted as well as rejected new technological advances in the past. If domestic assistive robots are adopted and adapted by seniors, then these robots will affect and will be affected by the social interaction they meditate. In order to understand how robots might support seniors in the future an understanding of the meaning of domestic assistive robots in their social context is essential. The primary research goal of the PhD project is to examine the ways in which robots can take on social meaning in the lives of old adults

Utopi eller dystopi?

Robotar kan betraktas som ytterligare en i raden av tekniska innovationer inom äldreomsorgen, buren av förhoppningar om ökad effektivitet men med bibehållen livskvalitet i samband med ökade omsorgsbehov och möjligheten att bo kvar hemma. Diskursen är tidvis utopisk - löften om att hjälpa äldre människor att bli mer självförsörjande och självständiga med hjälp av robotar - och från ett mer dystopiskt perspektiv - varningar om att äldre människor kommer att isoleras i sina egna hem endast i sällskap av en robot, och att deras privatliv kommer att övervakas dygnet runt. Det finns en tendens att man ”uppfinner hjulet igen” varje gång ny teknik prövas med äldre som målgrupp. Att man riktar in sig på äldre beror på att den grupp som benämns ”äldre” ökar i Sverige samtidigt som det råder en brist på vårdpersonal och resurser inom äldreomsorgen

Older People Meet Robots : Three Case Studies on the Domestication of Robots in Everyday Life

This thesis explores how older people construct meaning, use and make sense of three kinds of robots in their homes. The exploration is undertaken in empirical studies of an assistive robot, an eHealth system, and robotic vacuum cleaners. The research draws on data collected through interviews and observations of older people in relation to three robots. The results show that older people’s domestication of robots cannot be condensed into one universal formula that fits all older people and all robots. The domestication of a robot is a process of constant shaping through negotiations with other people, other technologies, everyday life practice, society, and in relation to and with the robot and ourselves. For robots to be meaningfully and seamlessly integrated into older people’s everyday lives they need to be easy to use and desirable. But they also need to fit into the participants’ home practices. These include older person’s household activities, hobbies, interests, network of people, and the technology cluster in which the older person is situated. The usage of a robot needs to make sense to the older person; she needs to feel that she is in control of the robot and that the level of maintenance is reasonable. If the usage of a robot makes sense to the older person she will be willing to alter stable practices and routines. An important insight that emerged is how stereotypes of older people as weak, ill and housebound are embodied in robots intended for older people. These stereotypes are also constructed or reinforced by society, developers and older people themselves. The research presented demonstrates how this understanding of older people is situated in the home trials and shaped and maintained through them, which has powerful implications for the future development of robots. The findings further demonstrate that there is a difference between what older people say and what they do. The constructed and socially pervasive image of older people as weak, ill and housebound is apparent in how the older participants talk about robots and their potential. They incorporated robots into their everyday lives (as well as other technologies) that made sense to them, but they were unable to do so with robots that did not make sense to them. Instead the “practice of trying out a robot at home” ran parallel with the practices of everyday life during the home trials and became an end in itself. The main finding is not the serious implications of the stereotypical image of older people per se, but rather an understanding of how this stereotype is situated, shaped and maintained in the development. The thesis argues that by recognising the form older people’s participation and influence takes in current robotic developments, we can gain an understanding of the aspects that need to be scrutinised in order to find alternatives to current robotic developments

Gender blindness : On health and welfare technology, AI and gender equality in community care.

Digital health and welfare technologies and artificial intelligence are proposed to revolutionise healthcare systems around the world by enabling new models of care. Digital health and welfare technologies enable remote monitoring and treatments, and artificial intelligence is proposed as a means of prediction instead of reaction to individuals' health and as an enabler of proactive care and rehabilitation. The digital transformation not only affects hospital and primary care but also how the community meets older people's needs. Community care is often provided by informal and formal care-givers, most of whom are women. Gender equality is at the heart of many national strategies, but do all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities when it comes to community care and its digital transformation? The digital transformation of community care is entangled with how care is provided to older people and the working conditions of community-care professionals. Current and, even more so, future community-care systems are and will be partly constituted by networks of technological artefacts. These health and welfare technological artefacts and the discourse surrounding them mediate and constitute social relations and community care. This article looks into how health and welfare technology and artificial intelligence-based devices and systems mediate and constitute gender relations in community care and presents an argument for reflexivity, embodiment, pluralism, participation and ecology as an alternative strategy to treating community care as one-size-fit-all and being blind to gender-related issues

Sambandet mellan individens tankeprocesser och akademiska utbildning

Examensarbetet behandlar förhållandet mellan personlighet, akademisk utbildning och kognition. Alla vet vi att individer skiljer sig från varandra, men vi måste också veta hur de skiljer sig från varandra. Med detta menas att individer kan skilja sig från varandra beroende på den information de besitter, men de kan även skilja sig från varandra i hur de tar emot och bearbetar information. De teoretiska och experimentella delarna av rapporten fokuserar på om det sker någon karatäristisk förändring i tankeprocesserna beroende på individens akademiska utbildning