Effects of robot-assisted activity for elderly people and nurses at a day service center

Abstract

Mental commit robots have been developed to provide psychological, physiological, and social effects in human beings through physical interaction. The appearance of these robots is designed to emulate real animals such as a cat or a seal. The seal robot was developed especially for therapeutic applications. Seal robots have been applied to assisting the activity of the elderly at a day service center. In order to investigate the effects of seal robots on elderly people, their mood was evaluated using face scales (which express moods by identifying the appropriate facial illustration) and questionnaires. Changes in reaction to stress in the elderly was measured using urinary tests. In addition, stress of nursing staff was investigated. Their mental state was evaluated using a "burnout scale." The day service center was provided with seal robots for five weeks. As a result, the feelings of elderly people improved by the interaction with the robots. Urinary tests showed that their ability to overcome stress were also improved. Moreover, the stress levels of the nursing staff decreased because the elderly people required less supervision when interacting with the robots. Consequently, the seal robots were judged to be useful at institutions for the elderly, such as the day service center.