A Systematic Review of Robotics Research in Support of In-Home Care for Older Adults

Abstract

The aging population is growing at an unprecedented rate globally and robotics-enabled solutions are being developed to provide better independent living for older adults. In this study, we report the results from a systematic review of the state-of-the-art in home robotics research for caring for older adults. This review aims to address two questions: (1) What research is being done towards integrating robotics for caring for older adults? (2) What are the research and technology challenges that robots are facing in the home? Sixty-three papers have been identified and studied in this review by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Common themes that are consistent across the reviewed papers are distinguished and consolidated as follows: (1) Ambient assisted living, where smart home environments and physical support tools are studied; (2) Robot ecosystem, where robotic devices are used to provide various services; (3) Social interaction, where the social isolation problem has been targeted. We also summarize the results of similar literature reviews we came across during our search. The results of this study present the current research trends and technologies used in each category. The challenges and limitations of robotics applications are also identified. Suggestions for accelerating the deployment of robots at home for providing older adults with independent care in the home are presented based on the results and insights from this study.

Exploring the Potential of Emerging Technologies to Meet the Care and Support Needs of Older People: A Delphi Survey

“…This study highlighted some open issues in relation to the R & D of emerging technologies with potential care and support applications for older people. In line with previous research [ 24 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 54 , 66 , 67 ], this study reinforced that data privacy and security and ethical issues, particularly during interacting with AI systems, remain one of the major concerns for adopting many of the assessed technologies. Improving complex interactions with conversational technologies, such as chatbots, voice activated devices and robotics, is another open challenge for the R & D community [ 24 , 56 , 66 ], which could influence older people’s experiences with these technologies, particularly in the social and psychological support domains.…”

“…In line with previous research [ 24 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 54 , 66 , 67 ], this study reinforced that data privacy and security and ethical issues, particularly during interacting with AI systems, remain one of the major concerns for adopting many of the assessed technologies. Improving complex interactions with conversational technologies, such as chatbots, voice activated devices and robotics, is another open challenge for the R & D community [ 24 , 56 , 66 ], which could influence older people’s experiences with these technologies, particularly in the social and psychological support domains. Moreover, according to experts in this study and in line with [ 54 , 55 , 68 ], evidence around the effectiveness of some technologies in psychological and health-related domains, such as VR/AR/MR and new drug delivery mechanisms, is still limited.…”

Assistive Robots Designed for Eldery Care and Caregivers

“…[31] Physical activity Robots that support physical activities help older people to gain strength and force them to be active. [19] These types of robots obtain information related to the physical activity of the elderly and relay it to caregivers or use it to adjust the robot's performance in things such as speed. [19] An example of this type of robot is iGo, a non-humanoid walker robot, it uses the user's motion activities to adjust the walking speed by applying neural network techniques on obtained data to have an optimal driving force.…”

“…(3) Mechanical Robots: Mechanical robots are robots designed for a specific task and have no resemblance to any living being. This category of robots are used as an assistant to help older people with walking such as iGO, a smart walker robot [19] or FriWalk, a walking assistant supporter [20] or automated wheelchairs. These robots aim to increase the mobility of individuals by guiding them in indoor or outdoor environments along with the planned path.…”

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“…For example, Allaban, Wang, and Padir (2020) and Christoforou, Panayides, Avgousti, Masouras, and Pattichis (2019) reviewed assistive robotics and technologies for elderly care, such as ambient assisted living and robotic nursing, whereas Gessl, Schlögl, and Mevenkamp (2019) shed light on the degree to which the future elderly (i.e., people aged 20 to 60 today) will accept artificially intelligent robotics. Yet, most gerontechnologists agree that implementing robotics for elderly care may actually be easier said than done in reality (Allaban et al, 2020;Christoforou et al, 2019).…”