Social Robot

The team has chosen to use the social robot Pepper for the project. Pepper is the biggest robot available and has a humanoid shape as well as a screen on its chest for visual outputs. It can navigate by using its wheels and use haptics like its arms to make human like gestures while also moving its head. Pepper also has visual sensors for moving around and detecting faces and people, as well as voice recognition. These sensors can be useful during identification of residents and verbal interactions. 

The pros with Pepper are primarily its size and familiar shape. It is easier to trust and relate to something that resembles a human and human behaviour and mannerisms (Seyama & Nagayama, 2007). For PwD it can be beneficial to minimise confusion and create trust for the technology by choosing a robot that resembles nurses and people that patients are used to and are familiar with. The role of familiar and human-like interfaces reduces anxiety and enhances acceptance (Dino et. al., 2022). Another asset is the screen that Pepper is equipped with. This screen can be used for visual outputs and physical inputs from patients that interact with the screen. Additionally, it can provide an online plattform for interactive activities for patients or communication plattform with relatives through video calls for instance.

Some cons with Pepper is that its movement is restricted by elevation or stairs. Because the robot can only move around on wheels it can be hard to transport the robot between floors or even between rooms if there is a raised threshold between rooms in the care center. It can also be hard for Pepper to navigate outside on uneven or grassy surfaces because of the small size of the wheels. Thus, primary use for Pepper is inside the care center, ideally on one floor. Furthermore, the only haptics Pepper can use is its arms which can be limiting in physical activities like showing how to dance or stretch for instance.

Sources:

Dino, M. J. S., Davidson, P. M., Dion, K. W., Szanton, S. L., & Ong, I. L. (2022). Nursing and human-computer interaction in healthcare robots for older people: An integrative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 4, 100072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2022.100072

Seyama, J., & Nagayama, R. S. (2007). The uncanny valley: Effect of realism on the impression of artificial human faces. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104(2), 335–347. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.104.2.335-347