“The Robot Should Be Programmed for Me”
User Tests Evaluating a Telepresence Robot for the Social Integration of Older Adults
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22190833 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Melisa Conde (0000-0003-4074-8948, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Soehnke Fischedick (0000-0001-8447-0584, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Kay Richter (0009-0000-3845-6570, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Stephanie Arevalo Arboleda (0000-0001-5577-4407, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Horst–Michael Groß (0000-0001-9712-0225, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Alexander Raake (0000-0002-9357-1763, Technische Universität Ilmenau), Nicola Döring (0000-0003-1299-4586, Technische Universität Ilmenau) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1-31 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2573-9522 • E-ISSN: 2573-9522 |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1145/3770851 |
| OpenAlex | W4414893950 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 68 |
Telepresence robots that allow communication between older adults and their remotely located social contacts can foster social integration. The present laboratory test study explores older adults’ successful use of a telepresence robot (Research Question 1 [RQ1]), as well as their perceived enjoyment (RQ2), perceived ease of use (RQ3), perceived usefulness (RQ4), perceived social presence (RQ5), and intention to use (RQ6) a telepresence robot for robot-mediated communication (RMC). Semi-structured interviews, observations, and questionnaires were applied with a group of N = 14 older adults living in Germany. Participants completed a navigational task (as remote users) and an interpersonal communication task (as local users). Results show older adults used the telepresence robot successfully (RQ1) during the tasks. Furthermore, in interviews, older adults described their perceived enjoyment (RQ2), perceived ease of use (RQ3), and perceived usefulness (RQ4) during RMC as generally high. Perceived social presence (RQ5) during RMC was generally described as high, with RMC being considered a viable substitute when face-to-face communication is not possible. Finally, only two participants (2/14) had no intention to use (RQ6) a telepresence robot in the long term. Future design recommendations are provided, such as adapting the telepresence robot’s functions to older adults physical, psychological, and social conditions
Human–robot interaction · Interpersonal communication · Robot · Social robot · Task Analysis · Telerobotics · Usability · AI in Service Interactions · Persona Design and Applications · Social Robot Interaction and HRI
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |