Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers
Society’s aging is a worldwide crisis that affects many countries, as the Older Adult (OA) population is growing faster than younger populations. With this, there are fewer caregivers (CGs), and more care receivers (CRs) exist. It is vital to understand how we can ease the burden of caregiving on bo...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/2/891 |
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| author | Katherine M. Tsui Rune Baggett Carol Chiang |
| author_facet | Katherine M. Tsui Rune Baggett Carol Chiang |
| author_sort | Katherine M. Tsui |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Society’s aging is a worldwide crisis that affects many countries, as the Older Adult (OA) population is growing faster than younger populations. With this, there are fewer caregivers (CGs), and more care receivers (CRs) exist. It is vital to understand how we can ease the burden of caregiving on both the care receivers’ and caregivers’ sides. Our research focuses on robotic mobility and stability assistance for independent living OAs. We draw upon best practices from Occupational Therapy for sit-to-stand (STS) transfer techniques and question what sit-to-stand could look like if performed by a robot. Drawing inspiration from assistive devices, we designed 3 robot embodiments: a humanoid robot, a pair of robots, and a simple pole robot. We conducted a cross-cultural study with 24 CR and CG focus groups in both the United States and Japan to understand OAs’ preferences and expected functionality for continued independence in their homes. Our findings show that, from the perspectives of both CRs and CGs in both countries, TRIbot, the humanoid robot was the most preferred (Japan 34 of 48 participants; 70.8% and US 24 of 43 participants; 55.8%) for caregiving tasks as it was perceived to be the most capable of providing increased assistance as OAs age. Additionally and unsurprisingly, OAs expected the robot to perform general household tasks and that they would speak to the robot. We contextualize our results within the rising popularity of humanoid robots and the desire for general purpose Artificial Intelligence. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-da6d2af38cab4b9e9b3edc58f5082b28 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-da6d2af38cab4b9e9b3edc58f5082b282025-01-24T13:21:14ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-01-0115289110.3390/app15020891Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and CaregiversKatherine M. Tsui0Rune Baggett1Carol Chiang2Toyota Research Institute, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAToyota Research Institute via HireArt, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAEvolving Homes, 13475 Atlantic Blvd. Unit 8, Suite M539, Jacksonville, FL 32225, USASociety’s aging is a worldwide crisis that affects many countries, as the Older Adult (OA) population is growing faster than younger populations. With this, there are fewer caregivers (CGs), and more care receivers (CRs) exist. It is vital to understand how we can ease the burden of caregiving on both the care receivers’ and caregivers’ sides. Our research focuses on robotic mobility and stability assistance for independent living OAs. We draw upon best practices from Occupational Therapy for sit-to-stand (STS) transfer techniques and question what sit-to-stand could look like if performed by a robot. Drawing inspiration from assistive devices, we designed 3 robot embodiments: a humanoid robot, a pair of robots, and a simple pole robot. We conducted a cross-cultural study with 24 CR and CG focus groups in both the United States and Japan to understand OAs’ preferences and expected functionality for continued independence in their homes. Our findings show that, from the perspectives of both CRs and CGs in both countries, TRIbot, the humanoid robot was the most preferred (Japan 34 of 48 participants; 70.8% and US 24 of 43 participants; 55.8%) for caregiving tasks as it was perceived to be the most capable of providing increased assistance as OAs age. Additionally and unsurprisingly, OAs expected the robot to perform general household tasks and that they would speak to the robot. We contextualize our results within the rising popularity of humanoid robots and the desire for general purpose Artificial Intelligence.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/2/891assistive robotshuman-robot interactionolder adultsrobotic caregiving |
| spellingShingle | Katherine M. Tsui Rune Baggett Carol Chiang Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers Applied Sciences assistive robots human-robot interaction older adults robotic caregiving |
| title | Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers |
| title_full | Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers |
| title_short | Exploring Embodiment Form Factors of a Home-Helper Robot: Perspectives from Care Receivers and Caregivers |
| title_sort | exploring embodiment form factors of a home helper robot perspectives from care receivers and caregivers |
| topic | assistive robots human-robot interaction older adults robotic caregiving |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/2/891 |
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