TY - GEN
T1 - Exploring the applicability of the socially assistive robot Stevie in a day center for people with dementia
AU - Taylor, Lloyd
AU - Downing, Angela
AU - Noury, Gabriel Aguiar
AU - Masala, Giovanni
AU - Palomino, Marco
AU - McGinn, Conor
AU - Jones, Ray
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021/8/8
Y1 - 2021/8/8
N2 - Socially assistive robots have the potential to help keep people with dementia cognitively active and entertained. This is important for their wellbeing. We explored staff perceptions of the acceptability of a new humanoid robot, Stevie, in an adult day care center for people with dementia. Stevie was deployed over 2 weeks in the day center to entertain 40 guests with dementia with three activities: (i) musical bingo, (ii) quizzes, and (iii) meet and greet. Nine staff members were asked what went well, whether the robot operated as expected, experiences of any technical issues, and the extent to which it hindered or aided their duties. Staff also rated guest engagement, guest enjoyment, and whether they were able to spend more time with guests. The sessions were successfully delivered. Staff reported that Stevie operated as expected, guest engagement with the robot was high, interactions with the robot were natural and the robot's novelty helped engagement. Use of the robot gave staff more time to attend to guests' needs. Suggested improvements included improvements to the robot's voice and adding a pause function during activities. With greater autonomy and/or extended use of its telepresence functionality, use of Stevie could become cost effective in such settings.
AB - Socially assistive robots have the potential to help keep people with dementia cognitively active and entertained. This is important for their wellbeing. We explored staff perceptions of the acceptability of a new humanoid robot, Stevie, in an adult day care center for people with dementia. Stevie was deployed over 2 weeks in the day center to entertain 40 guests with dementia with three activities: (i) musical bingo, (ii) quizzes, and (iii) meet and greet. Nine staff members were asked what went well, whether the robot operated as expected, experiences of any technical issues, and the extent to which it hindered or aided their duties. Staff also rated guest engagement, guest enjoyment, and whether they were able to spend more time with guests. The sessions were successfully delivered. Staff reported that Stevie operated as expected, guest engagement with the robot was high, interactions with the robot were natural and the robot's novelty helped engagement. Use of the robot gave staff more time to attend to guests' needs. Suggested improvements included improvements to the robot's voice and adding a pause function during activities. With greater autonomy and/or extended use of its telepresence functionality, use of Stevie could become cost effective in such settings.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115095523&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515423
DO - 10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515423
M3 - Conference proceedings published in a book
AN - SCOPUS:85115095523
T3 - 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2021
SP - 957
EP - 962
BT - 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2021
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2021
Y2 - 8 August 2021 through 12 August 2021
ER -