The acceptance of mobile telepresence robots by elderly people

Abstract

An increasing number of people reach the age of retirement. These people cope with several problems, such as loneliness and requiring proper health care. Research has been conducted to see whether social robots can assist in the care for the elderly, on both the health aspect and the social aspect. However, little research has been done on the acceptance of mobile telepresence robots (MTRs) in nursery homes. In this exploratory research, the social robots acceptance model by De Graaf (2015) will be used, which is based on the theory of planned behaviour. The research was conducted in a nursery home in the Netherlands. Patients from three groups of the nursery home (dementia, somatic, and day care) were visited by an MTR in their living rooms with their peers. After an interaction with the researcher via the robot, an interview was conducted in the same groups in which the participants got the visit from the MTR. The results show that the participants were overall accepting of the MTR. The strength of this research was that it was conducted successfully in a real-life setting. This research paves the way for more extensive research on the possibilities of using MTRs in elderly homes.