Gerontechnology — the assessment of one selected technology improving the quality of life of older adults

Abstract

A B S T R A C T Older adults experience difficulties in their daily lives as their health deteriorates. Gerontechnology (the compilation of terms "gerontology" and "technology") helps in the resolution of problems faced by older adults by improving their quality of life and, above all, developing tools to facilitate the access of older adults to all goods, services and infrastructure, which is also the understanding of the term used in this paper. The article mainly aimed to assess the selected gerontechnology that improved the quality of life of older adults in terms of different criteria, namely, innovation, demand, socioethics, usability, and functionality. It also analysed whether the respondent's age and gender had any influence on the assessment. Care robots were chosen from among the variety of gerontechnologies. The survey was conducted in the first quarter of 2018 and involved 643 people from different voivodships of Poland. Two types of questionnaires were designed. The electronic form of the survey was distributed using social media and snowball techniques, and the paper form was sent by traditional post to all nursing homes in Poland. K E Y W O R D S technology assessment, gerontechnology, humanoid robots, older adults

Responsible Research and Innovation in Enterprises: Benefits, Barriers and the Problem of Assessment

“…First, attempts should be made to overcome the Eurocentrism of the RRI and to increase its global reception. After all, RRI should foster innovation that tackles major societal challenges that are global by nature: i) tightening supplies of energy, water and food; ii) pandemics and public health issues; iii) ageing societies [59]; iv) security; and v) climate change [60]. Analyzing innovation systems of countries such as South Africa and China with a view of verifying the adaptability of RRI concept in those contexts is a step in the right direction [61].…”

Evaluation and Selection of Technologies Improving the Quality of Life of Older People

“…Graafmans, Taipale and Charness (1998) describe gerontechnology as a science of technology and ageing aimed at the improvement of daily lives of older adults. Halicka (2019) claims that gerontechnology should enable older adults:…”

“…Analysing subject literature, it is possible to find a variety of studies on particular types of gerontechnology (Halicka, 2019). With regard to the phenomenon of ageing population, the first example of gerontechnology is that of improving and protecting the health of older people.…”

Assistive Robots Designed for Eldery Care and Caregivers

“…[13] Robots can work in two modes, remotely controlled or autonomous, and are programmed to do specific activities. [13] These types of robots can promote mobility; [14] guide the elderly; [14,15] encourage physical activities; [16] improve cognitive abilities through group activities, memory tests, or game playing; [14,17] or be used at smart houses in the configuration of an IoT solution. Some of the most popular humanoid robots are summarized in Table 1 of Appendix A.…”