Design, implementation and field tests of a socially assistive robot for the elderly: HealthBot version 2

Abstract

This paper presents the second version of a mobile service robot (HealthBot) designed for older people. The lessons learned from studies of the first version of the robot at a retirement village, and design decisions for the second version, are discussed. Technical requirements of field trials, a focus on cognitive human-robot interactions, the importance of working together in a multidisciplinary team, and the necessity for rapid iterative development suggested a new software framework. The features of new framework are discussed and implementation details are presented. Details of field trials and user acceptance results are presented. Results are promising for older-user acceptance of the robot.