This paper presents the EACare project, an ambitious multi-disciplinary collaboration with the aim to develop an embodied system, capable of carrying out neuropsychological tests to detect early signs of dementia, e.g., due to Alzheimer's disease. The system will use methods from Machine Learning and Social Robotics, and be trained with examples of recorded clinician-patient interactions. The interaction will be developed using a participatory design approach. We describe the scope and method of the project, and report on a first Wizard of Oz prototype.
One of the main motivations of developing assistive robots for the elderly is the fact that this technology can promote longer independent living @cite_23 . However, in-home experiments are still scarce because of privacy concerns and limited robot autonomy. One of the few exceptions is the work by de @cite_22 , who investigated reasons for technology abandonment in a study where 70 autonomous robots were deployed in people’s homes for about six months. Regardless of age (their participant pool ranged from 8 to 77 years), they found that the main reasons why people stopped using the robot were lack of enjoyment and perceived usefulness. These findings indicate that involving the target users from the early stages of development can be crucial for the success and acceptance of social robots.
@cite_22 @cite_23
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Research on why people refuse or abandon the use of technology in general, and robots specifically, is still scarce. Consequently, the academic understanding of people's underlying reasons for non-use remains weak. Thus, vital information about the design of these robots including their acceptance and refusal or abandonment by its users is needed. We placed 70 autonomous robots within people's homes for a period of six months and collected reasons for refusal and abandonment through questionnaires and interviews. Based on our findings, the challenge for robot designers is to create robots that are enjoyable and easy to use to capture users in the short-term, and functionally-relevant to keep those users in the longer-term. understanding the thoughts and motives behind non-use may help to identify obstacles for acceptance, and therefore enable developers to better adapt technological designs to the benefit of the users. For elders who remain independent in their homes, the home becomes more than just a place to eat and sleep. The home becomes a place where people care for each other, and it gradually subsumes all activities. This article reports on an ethnographic study of aging adults who live independently in their homes. Seventeen elders aged 60 through 90 were interviewed and observed in their homes in 2 Midwestern cities. The goal is to understand how robotic products might assist these people, helping them to stay independent and active longer. The experience of aging is described as an ecology of aging made up of people, products, and activities taking place in a local environment of the home and the surrounding community. In this environment, product successes and failures often have a dramatic impact on the ecology, throwing off a delicate balance. When a breakdown occurs, family members and other caregivers have to intervene, threatening elders' independence and identity. This article highlights the interest in how the elder ecology can be supported by new robotic products that are conceived of as a part of this interdependent system. It is recommended that the design of these products fit the ecology as part of the system, support elders' values, and adapt to all of the members of the ecology who will interact with them.