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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2024.1401663
This article is part of the Research Topic Assistive and Service Robots For Health and Home Applications (RH3 – Robot Helpers in Health and Home) View all 7 articles

Socially Assistive Walker for Daily Living Assistance in Older Adults

Provisionally accepted
Sergio D. Sierra M. Sergio D. Sierra M. Nigel Harris Nigel Harris Marcela Munera Marcela Munera Carlos A. Cifuentes Carlos A. Cifuentes *
  • Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper addresses the growing healthcare needs of an ageing population and the lack of advanced technologies with social capabilities that are cost-effective, user-friendly, and readily adopted. In response to this motivation, a socially assistive walker is designed to provide physical and cognitive support in activities of daily living for older adults. Physical and cognitive support is provided by walker's structure, sensors, and feedback interfaces to assist users daily living activities, as well as, in navigating environment safely and efficiently. The walker's design arises from semi-structured interviews conducted with ageing experts, leading to the development of 2 levels or modes of social interaction, namely low and high interaction. In a cohort of 14 adults, the study found the device easy to use regardless of the interaction mode, with 78.5% expressing a preference for the version featuring embodiment, verbal feedback, and more proactive cues (p < 0.05). The results also prompted ideas and suggestions for new designs based on insights gleaned from the user. This research contributes to the field of socially assistive robotics by offering an example of a user-centred approach to address the healthcare challenges an ageing population poses.

    Keywords: Socially Assistive Walker, Ageing population, Healthcare robotics, Activities of Daily Living, User preference

    Received: 15 Mar 2024; Accepted: 19 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sierra M., Harris, Munera and Cifuentes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Carlos A. Cifuentes, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, BS16 1QY, England, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.