Robot assisted activity for elderly people and nurses at a day service center

Abstract

We have been developing mental commit robots that provide psychological, physiological, and social effects to human beings through physical interaction. The appearances of these robots look like real animals such as cats and seals. We have applied mental commit robots to assisting the activity of elderly people at a day service center. In order to investigate the effect of mental commit robots on the elderly people, we evaluated elderly people's mood by face scales and questionnaires. In addition, the stress of nursing staff was investigated. We evaluated their mental poverty by a "burnout scale." Mental commit robots were provided in the day service center for five weeks. Results showed that feelings of elderly people were improved by interaction with the robots. Moreover, the nursing staff's mental poverty decreased because the elderly people spent their time by themselves with the robots. Consequently, mental commit robots are useful at elderly institutions like the day service center.