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Many elderly people like to be independent and remain in their own homes as they grow older. But with age, their bodies progressively become incapable of performing the daily tasks leaving them dependent on other people to carry on with even the basic daily activities. With the assistance of robotic technology, it might be possible for the elderly to function independently. However, there is hardly any research conducted on the attitude of senior citizens towards accepting robots as caregivers and aides.

A new study conducted by Human factors/ergonomics researchers gives insights into older adults' willingness to receive robotized assistance and suggests that older adults are open to robotic help to some extent.

The HFES Annual Meeting proceedings paper titled: "Older Adults' Preferences for and Acceptance of Robot Assistance for Everyday Living Tasks," was conducted by researcher Cory-Ann Smarr and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

For the study, the researchers showed videos with robots performing certain tasks and which showed the capabilities of the robots to adults aged between 65 and 93. The seniors were then asked how they felt about having a robot helper to assist them at home.

"Our results indicated that the older adults were generally open to robot assistance in the home, but they preferred it for some daily living tasks and not others," said Smarr.

The study results revealed that while the older adults were willing to take robotic assistance in certain chores like housekeeping and laundry, and with reminders to take medication and other health-related tasks, they preferred human help with personal tasks such as eating, dressing, bathing. They also preferred human help with social tasks such as phoning family or friends, Medical Xpress reported.

"There are many misconceptions about older adults having negative attitudes toward robots," continued Smarr.

"The older adults we interviewed were very enthusiastic and optimistic about robots in their everyday lives. Although they were positive, they were still discriminating with their preferences for robot assistance. Their discrimination highlights the need for us to continue our research to understand how robots can support older adults with living independently."

The study will be presented at the upcoming HFES 56th Annual Meeting in Boston.