“Gymmy”: Designing and Testing a Robot for Physical and Cognitive Training of Older Adults

Abstract

Physical and cognitive training can maintain and improve older adults’ independence and quality of life. Given the demographic growth of the older adult population and the shortage of caregivers, there is a need for personal trainers for physical and cognitive activities. This study suggests that social robots can satisfy this demand and presents the development of “Gymmy”, a robotic system for the physical and cognitive training of older adults. The system design includes a humanoid mechanical-looking robot to demonstrate exercises, an RGB-Depth (RGB-D) camera to measure performance and a touch screen and speakers to provide instructions and feedback. Experiments with 26 older adults (65–84 years of age) were performed in home environments to examine the effect of users’ characteristics (age, gender, education and attitude toward robots), the addition of cognitive training and the success rate of the acceptability of a robot trainer. The results showed that age, attitude and education influenced the acceptance of the robotic system. The findings highlight the importance of customizing the system to the needs of different users and the role of meaningful feedback. The system was proven to be robust and reliable, demonstrating clear potential to be used as a personal trainer and as a means of motivating older adults.

Politeness in Human–Robot Interaction: A Multi-Experiment Study with Non-Humanoid Robots

“…Attitudes regarding the robot, either regarding the social impact and comfort of the robot or negative towards the robot, were similar in case of old, middle-aged and younger adults [ 35 ]. The older old adults (75–84 years) found that a physical training robot (‘Gymmy’) was more useful as compared to their 65–74 year old counterparts [ 36 ]. As aforementioned, politeness has been explored with different age groups [ 16 ].…”

“…Previous research pointed out that gender influences perceptions of robots’ behavior [ 16 , 18 , 36 , 41 – 45 ]. These studies suggested that male and female participants perceive the interaction with the robots differently.…”

Politeness in Human-Robot Interaction: A Multi-Experiment Study with Non-Humanoid Robots

“…Attitudes regarding the robot, either regarding the social impact and comfort of the robot or negative towards the robot, were similar in case of old, middle-aged and younger adults [34]. The older old adults (75-84 years) found that a physical training robot ('Gymmy') was more useful as compared to their 65-74 year old counterparts [35]. The older group perceived the robot to be more useful compared to a 65-74 year-oldgroup.…”

“…Previous research pointed out that gender plays an in uential role in developing a perception about the behavior of the robot [16][18] [35][36] [37][38] [39][40]. These studies suggested that male and female participants perceive the interaction with the robots differently.…”

Assistive Robot with an AI-Based Application for the Reinforcement of Activities of Daily Living: Technical Validation with Users Affected by Neurodevelopmental Disorders

“…SARs have gained importance in the last decade and have demonstrated a variety of benefits and various spheres of life have been influenced by this. A variety of studies have been carried out in SARs, such as those investigating reductions of pain and anxiety as a result of hospitalization [19,20], consumption of meals [21], housework [22], monitoring the user's health [23,24], teaching language skills [9], and reducing social isolation and improving well-being through social interaction with the user [1,25,26].…”