Developing social robots for aging populations: A literature review of recent academic sources

Abstract

The perception of aging populations is a major factor driving the social robot development movement. A growing body of research reflects the expanding interest in social robots. This paper synthesizes research on the development of social robots with a literature review of academic articles with publication dates ranging from 2006 to 2017. The review is divided into three themes: (a) robots as an aid in treatment; (b) robots as social assistants and home companions; and (c) robots as custodial caregivers that are viewed in terms of ethical implications. This paper outlines the issues surrounding social, commitment, assistive, and companion robots for use in medical treatment, mental health therapy, physiotherapy, care facilities, and private homes. It describes some of the ethical concerns raised by researchers and media, including questions of control, privacy, consent, and the issue of simulated versus human compassion in caregiving. The research also points out that a rhetoric of urgency concerning aging populations drives the development of robots, which frames citizens who will benefit from robots in reductive ways. We argue that the contribution of humanities and social science research, including age studies and critical gerontology, should be better integrated with discourses of social robot development, largely from technical fields.

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“…Broadly speaking, research can address how attitudes toward robots vary by culture (Li et al 2010). Beyond concerns associated with culture, it may be pertinent to examine which other trait factors determine whether customers are willing to have their hair styled by robots or accept childcare/elderly care services delivered by robots (Pedersen et al 2018). In addition to physical well-being considerations, some sociologists suggest that robots may assist with spiritual well-being (Fleming 2019), as exemplified by the robot priest BlessU-2 (Sherwood 2017) and Buddhist monk Xian'er (Andrews 2016).…”

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“…Ageing of the population and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) have resulted in a growing body of research on social robots aiming to meet the care needs of older adults (Moyle, 2019). Social robots are designed to establish social and affective relations with humans (Pedersen, Reid, & Aspevig, 2018). Several animal-shaped social robots, such as the robotic JustoCat (Gustafsson, Svanberg, & Müllersdorf, 2015) and robotic dog Aibo (Fujita, 2001), have been developed to interact with humans as a social companion.…”

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“…tasks related to IADL needs) but so far, besides robotic vacuum cleaners and medication dispensers there are hardly any affordable applications available on the market. Social robots that are products of affective design may entertain people and offer cognitive activities but scientific evidence of their usefulness for socializing, companionship or physical therapy, especially in the longterm, is still lacking (see scoping/systematic reviews Abdi et al 2018;Pedersen et al 2018;Shishehgar et al 2018).…”

“…The systematic and scoping reviews of care robots (Abdi et al 2018;Pedersen et al 2018;Shishehgar et al 2018) have summarized the types of care robots and how these robots or prototypes have achieved their intended targets based on the results of empirical experiments. Pedersen et al (2018) state that "it is perceived that robotics will provide potential solutions for some of the economic and social challenges of aging populations, acting not to replace health care providers, but to provide support".…”

“…The systematic and scoping reviews of care robots (Abdi et al 2018;Pedersen et al 2018;Shishehgar et al 2018) have summarized the types of care robots and how these robots or prototypes have achieved their intended targets based on the results of empirical experiments. Pedersen et al (2018) state that "it is perceived that robotics will provide potential solutions for some of the economic and social challenges of aging populations, acting not to replace health care providers, but to provide support". Yet, the reviews do not discuss how widely the robots are in use, in which contexts (home care, residential care, social activities like senior clubs or other), whether robots robots are used in these contexts regularly or only for the purposes of the tests, who has purchased or financed the use of robots being reported and what are the long-term costs and benefits of the robots.…”