The acceptance of robotic systems by elderly people : first empirical findings

This Paper presents the methodical approach and early findings of the project SEN-TAF (Technology Acceptance by the Elderly to Increase Independence). The project aims to examine the acceptance of robotic systems by elderly people and make early recommendations of necessary features those systems should contain. Based on theoretical approaches of technology acceptance and an empirical study to examine the general need of support of the elderly we developed several scenarios of robot applications. These scenarios are then visualized in animations and simulations to check the preliminary defined acceptance model. Beside these scenarios we survey several other factors which might have an impact of the overall acceptance, e.g. the appearance of the robotic systems (humanoid vs. technical appearance) and the interaction 'mode' (speaking vs. nonspeaking). In addition to these animations and simulations we survey the acceptance of the robotic dog AIBO as early placeholder for future developments in animal robotic systems which could serve as a resource against boredom