Attitudes of the elderly living independently towards the use of robots to assist with activities of daily living

BACKGROUND: Robots are gaining attention as a potential solution to aging. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to explore the attitude of robot assistance in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) among elderly people living independently. METHODS: The one-on-one interview, buddy robot video and questionnaire survey were used to analyze mean, median, range, and the test results of non-parametric statistical methods such as Wilcoxon sign-rank test statistic and one-sample Wilcoxon sign-rank test statistic, so as to explore the attitude of the elderly living independently towards robot-assisted ADLs and the acceptance of the use of robots in 32 ADLs. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant differences in the attitudes, usability and ease of use of elderly people towards robot assistance before and after watching the Buddy Robot video and they had a more positive attitude after watching the video. According to the results, the elderly was more receptive to the use of robots in activities such as “reminding to carry objects” and “reminding to take medicine”, while they were less receptive to the use of robots in the group or private activities such as “playing mahjong” and “taking a bath”. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that the elderly had a positive attitude towards the use of robot-assisted ADLs, and there were differences in the acceptance of robot-assisted ADLs. The results are helpful to understand the assistance needs and attitudes of the elderly, and provide a reference for the design of assistive robots that meet user needs, and ultimately improve the ability of the elderly to live independently at home.