Older Adults’ Perceptions of Supporting Factors of Trust in a Robot Care Provider

Table 8

Design recommendations for robot care providers.

Factors	Design recommendation
Professional skills	(i) Robots should be able to complete the task precisely, reliably, and in a way that the older adult expects; (ii) As many of the older adults receiving care are suffering from various health conditions, it is important to that robots are able to be specialized for individuals for tasks such as transferring and bathing where certain areas might be more sensitive; (iii) Design should ensure that appropriate pressure is applied for safety but still be gentle as to not incur harm on the older adult
Personal traits	(i) Need to be able to navigate the social environment in the home including family, friends, and pets of the older adult; (ii) Able to demonstrate to older adult that tasks are being done for their well-being as primary motive; (iii) Flexibility to demonstrate a set of values similar to each older adult (e.g., honesty, task values such as personal standards of cleanliness, or method in which task is performed); (iv) Material and temperature of robot for tasks that involve touch should be designed to be comfortable for older adult (e.g., not metal cold “hands” for bathing)
Communication	(i) Provide information while task is being performed to accurately describe the robots planned goals and steps for that task; (ii) Create controls whether verbal or physical that allow the user to have clear input and output decisions so that they know the robot understood them and responds appropriately; (iii) Ensure that user interface is usable by older adults; (a) Audio: ensure that frequency is within common hearing range of older adults; and volume is adjustable so that if hearing impaired the volume can be altered to; ensure clear communication; (b) Visual: make sure that guidelines are followed for older adults by providing; high contrast, large print, and simple steps for navigation