Evaluating Human-Robot Interaction Using a Robot Exercise Instructor at a Senior Living Community

A NAO humanoid robot and a Paro animaloid robot are taken to a senior living community for a study in human-robot interaction. The humanoid robot was programmed to perform autonomously (i) a warm-up routine in which the robot directs the participants to ask it to perform various tasks and (ii) an exercise routine in which the robot invites the participants to participate in various physical exercises. The Paro robot is then passed around among the participants. The participants included six elderly residents, three nurses/caregivers, and two administrators. The elderly residents are categorized with respect to cognitive awareness and physical capability. We tabulated video data to measure several dimensions of human-robot interaction among these diverse participant groups. Our findings suggest that while senior residents moderately accept the robots and nurses and administrators are enthusiastic about them, more work needs be done on the auditory capability of the robots.