Immersive participatory design of assistive robots to support older adults.

Journal: Ergonomics
PMID: 38351886

Abstract

Assistive robots have the potential to support independence, enhance safety, and lower healthcare costs for older adults, as well as alleviate the demands of their care partners. However, ensuring that these robots will effectively and reliably address end-user needs in the long term requires user-specific design factors to be considered during the robot development process. To identify these design factors, we embedded Stretch, a mobile manipulator created by Hello Robot Inc., in the home of an older adult with motor impairments and his care partner for four weeks to support them with everyday activities. An occupational therapist and a robotics engineer lived with them during this period, employing an immersive participatory design approach to co-design and customise the robot with them. We highlight the benefits of this immersive participatory design experience and provide insights into robot design that can be applied broadly to other assistive technologies.

Authors

  • Samuel A Olatunji
    Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, 8410501, Israel. Electronic address: olatunji@post.bgu.ac.il.
  • Vy Nguyen
    Research and Development, Hello Robot Inc., Martinez, CA, USA.
  • Maya Cakmak
    c Science and Engineering Department , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington , USA.
  • Aaron Edsinger
    Research and Development, Hello Robot Inc., Martinez, CA, USA.
  • Charles C Kemp
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
  • Wendy A Rogers
    School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States of America.
  • Harshal P Mahajan
    College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.

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