A Robotic Shower System - Evaluation of multimodal Human-Robot Interaction for the Elderly

Abstract

Due to the demographic change most European countries face an increase of older people and a lack of (nursing) care staff. The development of technological systems supporting activities of daily living seems to be increasingly relevant as these might contribute to tackle problems associated with these developments. Within the interdisciplinary European HORIZON 2020 project “I-SUPPORTED Bath Robots” a robotic shower system is being developed that uses a multimodal human-robot interaction approach to support frail and mobility impaired persons. Because of limited physical and cognitive abilities of the intended primary user group of elderly people, formative evaluations of verbal commands and gestures were conducted to ensure acceptance, applicability, and usability. Main contribution of the evaluation was the identification of verbal commands and gestures that were regarded as too difficult or superfluous by elderly users. Those insights will inform the design and development of further prototypes. Furthermore, general suggestions for the design of multimodal HRI for elderly users could be derived.