Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Gerontology. 2019;65(4):441-450. doi: 10.1159/000494881. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
With global aging, robots are considered a promising solution for handling the shortage of aged care and companionships. However, these technologies would serve little purpose if their intended users do not accept them. While the socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that older adults would accept robots that offer emotionally meaningful relationships, selective optimization with compensation model predicts that older adults would accept robots that compensate for their functional losses.
The present study aims to understand older adults' expectations for robots and to compare older adults' acceptance ratings for 2 existing robots: one of them is a more human-like and more service-oriented robot and the other one is a more animal-like and more companion-oriented robot.
A mixed methods study was conducted with 33 healthy, community-dwelling Taiwanese older adults (age range: 59-82 years). Participants first completed a semi-structured interview regarding their ideal robot. After receiving information about the 2 existing robots, they then completed the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology questionnaires to report their pre-implementation acceptance of the 2 robots.
Interviews were transcribed for conventional content analysis with satisfactory inter-rater reliability. From the interview data, a collection of older adults' ideal robot characteristics emerged with highlights of humanlike qualities. From the questionnaire data, respondents showed a higher level of acceptance toward the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot in terms of attitude, perceived adaptiveness, and perceived usefulness. From the mixed methods analyses, the finding that older adults had a higher level of positive attitude towards the more service-oriented robot than the more companion-oriented robot was predicted by higher expectation or preference for robots with more service-related functions.
This study identified older adults' preference toward more functional and humanlike robots. Our findings provide practical suggestions for future robot designs that target the older population.
随着全球老龄化，机器人被认为是解决老年护理和陪伴短缺问题的有前途的解决方案。然而，如果他们的目标用户不接受这些技术，这些技术就没有什么用处。虽然社会情绪选择理论预测老年人会接受提供情感意义关系的机器人，但选择性优化补偿模型预测老年人会接受补偿其功能丧失的机器人。
本研究旨在了解老年人对机器人的期望，并比较老年人对 2 种现有机器人的接受度评分：一种是更类人化、更以服务为导向的机器人，另一种是更类动物化、更以陪伴为导向的机器人。
一项混合方法研究纳入了 33 名健康的、居住在社区的台湾老年人（年龄范围：59-82 岁）。参与者首先完成了一项关于他们理想机器人的半结构化访谈。在收到有关 2 种现有机器人的信息后，他们完成了统一接受和使用技术理论的问卷，以报告他们对这 2 种机器人的预先实施接受程度。
访谈记录进行了常规内容分析，具有令人满意的内部一致性。从访谈数据中，出现了一系列老年人理想机器人的特征，突出了类人品质。从问卷数据来看，在态度、感知适应性和感知有用性方面，受访者对更以服务为导向的机器人的接受程度高于更以陪伴为导向的机器人。从混合方法分析中可以看出，老年人对更以服务为导向的机器人的积极态度水平高于更以陪伴为导向的机器人，这是由对具有更多服务相关功能的机器人的更高期望或偏好所预测的。
本研究确定了老年人对更具功能性和类人化机器人的偏好。我们的研究结果为针对老年人群体的未来机器人设计提供了实用建议。
