Usability Evaluation of Robot Services for the Elderly

Usability Evaluation of Robot Services for the Elderly

Background

As a result of evolving technological innovations, robots are now appearing in the healthcare industry to assist elderly population with activities of daily living. Scientists have been conducting several projects to incorporate robots in assisting the elderly population in order to address their needs and values by managing their activities at home, helping with household supplies, providing support while old adults ambulate in their residence so as to assist them with communication (Wu, Fassert & Rigaud, 2012). Due to technological advancement, and declining healthcare providers and resources along with skyrocketing costs of healthcare nowadays, assistive devices (robots) are being built for elderly population so that they can support them with physical activities, social interactions, and promoting wellness (Seelye et al. 6 OR MORE AUTHORS ARE NOT SPELLED OUT IN CITATION, 2012). Robots have been essential assistive devices for the elderlies with special design intended to provide older adults the support they need as a result of aging and functional decline by supporting them in their daily movements, monitoring their wellness, and providing communication, safety, and cognitive supports (Granata et al., 2013).

Purpose

The project highlights usability evaluations of robot services for the elderly by reviewing serval literatures that were published within the past five years around this subject matter. Hence, the major purpose of this paper is to conduct a review of literature regarding evaluation of the usability of robot services for the elderly with particular emphasis on its impact for those old adults with physical weakness or cognitive impairments. Several studies were evaluated, eight studies with more significance were included in this paper, and five of them were included in the evidence summary table, Appendix A.

Methods

            The search for electronic database or online literature search was carried out to find research studies that were conducted within the past five years, with resources from 2012 to the present in search of evidence. The literature search was conducted from the University of Maryland Library’s OneSearch database that was used to search multiple databases, including PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL, to look for research studies related to the selected topic. The major keywords used for the search include “robot services for the elderly,” “assistive robots for the elderly,” and “robotics and the elderly.” The inclusion criteria were: studies with a timeframe between the years 2012 through 2016, and studies that focus on robot services for the elderly. The exclusion criteria were: research studies that did not focus on robot services for the elderly, were conducted beyond the timeframe (2012), and could not be generalized to the selected target population (older adults). After applying these search criteria, eight articles were included in the paper, five of them were included in the review process and were included in the evidence summary table. A detailed table describing the research articles reviewed is included in Appendix A.

Literature Review

The study conducted by Bemelmans et al. (2012) intends to examine the efficiency of robot intercessions aimed to help the aged people. In this particular study, the researchers reassessed some studies and chose 41 publications. Out of these studies, 17 of them incorporated four robot systems and a single undefined robot. The selection was carried out through database search whereby multiple databases were used. At the beginning, almost all the three thousand publications were searched by the researchers, and then second titles were chosen as pertinent. Here, 37 publications were chosen on the basis of their abstracts. At the end, 41 publications; 30 had been selected in the third phase, were incorporated in the review. A limitation deduced out of this study is that the study cannot be generalized since the participants were the aged population only and thus it will be hard to apply its outcome to a younger population.

 Granata’s et al. (2013) study aimed to identify the usability problems of the robot interface for elderly and to isolate the human factors that affect the use of the technology by elderly. The authors report that a group of eleven elderly persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment and a group of eleven cognitively healthy elderly individuals took part in their study and that performance measures were collected. Their major findings include that cognitive profile, age and computer experience were found to impact task performance, and participants with cognitive impairment achieved the tasks committing more errors than cognitively healthy elderly. The major limitations include very small sample size, applicability issue to younger population, the findings may not be generalized to younger groups.

The study by Kachouie et al. (2014) aims to present a report on published studies about Socially Assistive Robots (SAR) in the context of elderly care. Most of their participants were females in nursing home setting who are experiencing some kind of cognitive impairment. The authors reviewed eighty-six studies in thirty-seven study groups that have been included, and the major findings imply that positive effects of Socially Assistive Robots on elderly well-being. The main limitations include that studies illustrate that the cultural background of participants affects their attitudes toward robots significantly, regarding cultural diversity and heterogeneity in many developed countries’ populations, the majority of participants in studies were women; hence, major threats to generalizability to younger population.

The research study by Pigini et al. (2012) aims to explain the findings of research studies, both qualitative and quantitative, regarding a user-oriented and focused methodology that was performed under a fund from the European Union, and to create requirements for users and data for usage scenarios so as to satisfy users’ needs, feelings, and rights. The authors emphasize that robot services for elderly can provide major supportive benefits so that quality of life to elderlies can be well improved and independence can be achieved. The authors describe that the methods used for their study is a qualitative and quantitative research study that had fifty-nine participants and questionnaires for one hundred twenty-nine respondents, which were performed in Germany, Italy, and Spain (Pigini et al., 2012). Their survey included their target population who were elderly people and their respective care givers, and healthcare providers that were involved in providing care to the elderlies.

According to Pigini et al. (2012), the results revealed that robot service that happened to be partially autonomous, self-learning, and remotely controlled was somehow a major support in resolving some of the issues of the elderlies in spite of the fact that the elderlies were struggling with activities of their daily lives. The robot services included controlling and handling emergency conditions, providing assistance for carrying heavy objects, providing support for reaching and fetching things placed too far away. The authors further argue that these activities of daily lives were challenging to the elderlies and that robot services were able to assist significantly even if direct contact between the robots and the elderly people were not greatly appreciated by many of the elderlies (Pigini et al., 2012). The authors concluded that robot service that is tele-operated can be of great assistance to the weak elderly population that can be monitored 7/24 by a professional service provider that can directly provide a tele-operation if caregivers are not available to support the elderlies. One of the major limitations, in addition to a smaller sample size, was that the project was funded by the European Union and that there may be a possible conflict of interest as a result of a potential funding bias. Not only that, there was no summary and no limitations that were stated by the authors.

The study by Robinson et al. (2015) aims to investigate the effects of interacting with the companion robot on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate of older people in a residential care facility. The authors describe that four residents who did not interact with the robot were excluded from the final analysis with n = 17, and planned comparisons revealed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly from baseline to when residents had Paro (robot). The authors further explain that interacting with Paro has a physiological effect on cardiovascular measures, which is similar to findings with live animals. The limitations of the study include that since blood pressure was measured in residents who had previously been in the larger trial, it may be that people who had spent more time with the robot reacted differently to those who had not. Other limitations of their study include a small sample size, lack of randomization and a control group.

The study by Seelye et al. (2012) aims to test the feasibility of use and acceptance of a remotely controlled robot with video-communication capability in an independently living, cognitively intact senior older adults who live in private residence. The authors report that a mobile, remotely controlled robot with video-communication ability was placed in the homes of eight seniors, and the attitudes and preferences of these volunteers and those of family or friends who communicated with them remotely via the device were assessed through survey instruments. The major findings include that responses from the participants indicated that they appreciated the potential of this technology to enhance their physical health and well-being, social connectedness, and ability to live independently at home. Remote users, who were friends or adult children of the participants, were more likely to test the mobility features and had several suggestions for additional useful applications, according to the authors.

The study by Wu et al. (2012) focuses on designing an assistive robot service for the adult population with cognitive impairment who live in their private residences. The authors describe that three focus group sessions were conducted so as to evaluate how the old adults understand the appearance and functionality of a robot with a total of fifteen senior adults who participated in the study. The major findings of the study were that the elderly population did not appreciate the robots and were extremely reluctant about their use.  One of the major limitation of the study was that it has a very small sample size that results in threat to generalizability.

The study by Zsiga et al. (2013) focuses on a project that was intended to develop a robot that can support elderly population for those who do not have family support system or without caregivers that may have some sort of cognitive or physical impairments. According to the authors, the project entitled the Domeo Project of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Program that was mainly funded by the European Union, targeted end users and their caregivers that are located in three European countries, France, Hungary, and Austria in order to show them how robot can provide supportive services (Zsiga et al., 2013). The authors explain that three focus groups were formed that included the elderly end users, younger care givers and older caregivers with six characteristics: “acceptability and privacy, pertinence of services, possible obstacles, motivation level to use the proposed services, organizational issues and recommendations” (Zsiga et al., 2013).

Zsiga et al. (2013) further described that there were significant differences among the participants from the different countries and the different age groups with the younger focus group more concerned about the safety of their loved ones and that they wanted to be alerted immediately for any emergency situations, and with older focus group more concerned about physical support and companionship. The results showed that for those participants in Austria, the elderly group were more interested and had positive attitude towards the robot system with the focus group that consisted of family caregivers were more skeptical about the system, and had negative thoughts about the robots and that they could do better than the robots thinking they are not replaceable by robots (Zsiga et al., 2013).

The participants from France, the older caregiver focus group, thought that the robots were very slow and that they were more concerned about slow response time for emergency events with some older people thinking the robots may not be as significant with some others thinking robots can be significant in performing activities of their daily lives (Zsiga et al., 2013). The participants from Hungary, the older caregiver focus group, believe that robot services can be significant support with more benefits in the healthcare and for those who do not have family support system and live by themselves (Zsiga et al., 2013). Some of the older people think that robots are not fully advanced yet to provide physical assistance; furthermore, the younger caregivers were more skeptical but believe that the speech recognition feature is very important functionality for the elderly (Zsiga et al., 2013). 

The study by Enrique et al. (2016) highlights the fact that as the older population increases in number, there is a strong demand for support and healthcare services and that mobile robot services can provide a major supportive services for monitoring care of the elderly at their residences. According to the authors, several projects were carried out that resulted in developing mobile robot services that can keep tracks of activities of elderlies in performing their daily routines or activities of daily lives. The main objective of this study was to conduct experiments so as to study how accurate mobile robot systems can recognize activities in residential setting environment for the elderly population by focusing on activities of their daily lives that included sleeping, and watching television in their homes (Enrique et al., 2016).

The authors further explained about the methodology that data collected from measurement of distance traveled or motion sensors were utilized as a reference guide for the result of the activity or movement recognition. (Enrique et al., 2016). Based on the article, the result showed that the accuracy of the mobile robot system was not steady for all routine activities, and that the system would result in high success rate in some cases but low success rate in other cases (Enrique et al., 2016). The results revealed that over four thousand dataUNCLEAR were collected by the mobile robot system and that nearly thirty-four thousands of the data were matched, which was almost eighty percent correct recognition by the robot system (Enrique et al., 2016). The authors also learned that the position where the mobile robot system can observe and its surrounding environments can result in significant impact on how precise the robot system can recognize activity, and to some extent, based on what routine activities are performed in residential setting (Enrique et al., 2016). 

Conclusion

As a result of evolving technological innovations, robots are now appearing in the healthcare industry to assist the elderly population with activities of daily living. Scientists have been conducting several projects to incorporate robots in assisting the elderly population in order to address their needs and values by managing their activities at home, helping with household supplies, providing support while elderlies ambulate in their residence, and assisting with communication. Due to technological advancement, and declining healthcare providers and resources along with skyrocketing costs of healthcare nowadays, assistive devices (robots) are being built for elderly population so that they can support them with physical activities, social interactions, and promoting wellness. The major purpose of this paper was to conduct a review of literature regarding evaluation of the usability of robot services for the elderly with particular emphasis on its impact for those old adults with cognitive impairment. Usability evaluation of Robot services for elderly with cognitive impairment is a major focus of human computer interactions as it directly affects elderly users’ interactions with the computer system.

References

Bemelmans, R., Gelderblom, G. J., Jonker, P., & de Witte, L. (2012). Review: Socially Assistive

Robots in Elderly Care: A Systematic Review into Effects and Effectiveness. Journal Of The American Medical Directors Association, 13114-120.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2010.10.002.

Enrique, D.E., Nakahata, K., Imamoglu, N., Sekine, M., Sun, G., Gomez, I., & Yu, W. (2016). Evaluation of a Home Biomonitoring Autonomous Mobile Robot. Computational Intelligence & Neuroscience, 1-8. doi:10.1155/2016/9845816.

Granata, C., Pino, M., Legouverneur, G., Vidal, J., Bidaud, P., & Rigaud, A. (2013). Robot services for elderly with cognitive impairment: Testing usability of graphical user interfaces. Technology And Health Care, 21(3), 217-231.

Kachouie, R., Sedighadeli, S., Khosla, R., & Chu, M. (2014). Socially Assistive Robots in Elderly Care: A Mixed-Method Systematic Literature Review. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 30(5), 369-393. doi:10.1080/10447318.2013.873278

Pigini, L., Facal, D., Blasi, L., & Andrich, R. (2012). Service robots in elderly care at home: Users' needs and perceptions as a basis for concept development. Technology & Disability, 24(4), 303-311 9p.

Robinson, H., MacDonald, B., & Broadbent, E. (2015). Physiological effects of a companion robot on blood pressure of older people in residential care facility: a pilot study. Australasian Journal On Ageing, 34(1), 27-32. doi:10.1111/ajag.12099.

Seelye, A. M., Wild, K. V., Larimer, N., Maxwell, S., Kearns, P., & Kaye, J. A. (2012). Reactions to a Remote-Controlled Video-Communication Robot in Seniors' Homes: A Pilot Study of Feasibility and Acceptance. Telemedicine & E-Health, 18(10), 755. doi:10.1089/tmj.2012.0026.

Wu, Y., Fassert, C., & Rigaud, A. (2012). Designing robots for the elderly: Appearance issue and beyond. Archives Of Gerontology And Geriatrics, 54121-126. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2011.02.003.

Zsiga, K., Edelmayer, G., Rumeau, P., Péter, O., Tóth, A., & Fazekas, G. (2013). Home care robot for socially supporting the elderly: focus group studies in three European countries to screen user attitudes and requirements. International Journal Of Rehabilitation Research. Internationale Zeitschrift Für Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue Internationale De Recherches De Réadaptation, 36(4), 375-378. doi:10.1097/MRR.0b013e3283643d26.

Appendix A

Evidence Summary Table