Evaluating the Usability of New Software for Medication Management on a Social Robot

Abstract

As the world's population is rapidly ageing, social robots are being developed to help patients manage their chronic conditions at home. An important task for robots is to remind people of their medications. Although medication management systems aim to simplify the process of programming robots, these systems often suffer from usability issues that increase data entry errors. This study aimed to investigate whether cosmetic and validation changes in a social robot medication management system (Robogen) improved system usability and reduced medication errors. Forty participants underwent a 60-minute study during which they entered prescriptions using both the old and new systems in a random order. System usability and preference were assessed using questionnaires. Results showed that the new system (Robogen 2) had significantly higher usability scores and was preferred by the significant majority of participants (80%). This new system has been adopted for programming the robot in subsequent healthcare studies.