Portable robot inspiring walking in elderly people

摘要

In Japan, which has already become a super aging society, it is important that elderly people maintain their healthy condition both physically and mentally. We have developed a portable robot, "TechTech," which encourages them to take a walk. We infer that the human-robot interaction is crucially important for increasing their motivation to exercise by walking. TechTech talks to elderly people based on information obtained from various sensors: TechTech can judge weather and indoor-outdoor environments. It can also detect sounds and to count steps. It can vary the words and the intervals in conversations. Results obtained from experiments demonstrate that the impressions of dialogues with the robot differ according to a person's age. Elderly people prefer long intervals in conversations.