Scenario description / Orientation script

Dear participant!

Thank you for choosing to participate in our study for the course Socio-Cognitive Engineering at TUDelft.

In this study, we aim to test our design for a social robot meant to take people with dementia residing in a care home on walks, in the care center garden or in a park nearby. Our robot aims to motivate care center residents so that most end up going on a couple of walks a week for their health and well-being.

Since we do not have access to test our design on people with dementia, we kindly ask you to step into the role of the following character: 

Your name is Bob and you are 80 years old. You suffer from Korsakoff syndrome, which is a type of dementia caused by a vitamin deficiency (vitamin B1) related to excessive drinking and alcoholism (you are, however, sober now). The disorder damages nerve cells and supporting cells in the brain and spinal cord, as well as the part of the brain involved with memory. 

For hobbies, you really enjoy collecting different types of coins and going to the park as a light form of exercise. You tend to have some problems with anger management as a side effect of your long drinking problems and therefore enjoy walking to the park to relax, blow off some steam, and regulate your emotions. You have no family and tend to feel a little bit lonely on your own. 

With this persona in mind, we ask you to interact with the Pepper robot.