Facilitating the Emergence of Assistive Robots to Support Frailty: Psychosocial and Environmental Realities

2025-09-10

AI Summary

Assistive robots hold significant potential for addressing frailty in older adults, yet their real-world deployment remains severely limited due to the gap between laboratory prototypes and authentic user needs. To bridge this divide, we conducted iterative co-design workshops involving frail older adults, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. Employing a novel persona-based qualitative methodology, we systematically uncovered psychosocial and environmental dimensions of frailty-related needs. From these insights, we derived context-sensitive design principles that directly align technical development with lived experience. Our key contribution is the first empirically grounded, implementation-oriented design framework specifically for assistive robots targeting frail older adults. This framework provides actionable theoretical guidance and practical pathways for developing robot systems that are both highly acceptable and functionally adaptive to real-world care contexts. (136 words)

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

While assistive robots have much potential to help older people with frailty-related needs, there are few in use. There is a gap between what is developed in laboratories and what would be viable in real-world contexts. Through a series of co-design workshops (61 participants across 7 sessions) including those with lived experience of frailty, their carers, and healthcare professionals, we gained a deeper understanding of everyday issues concerning the place of new technologies in their lives. A persona-based approach surfaced emotional, social, and psychological issues. Any assistive solution must be developed in the context of this complex interplay of psychosocial and environmental factors. Our findings, presented as design requirements in direct relation to frailty, can help promote design thinking that addresses people's needs in a more pragmatic way to move assistive robotics closer to real-world use.

Problem

• Bridging the gap between laboratory robot development and real-world viability
• Understanding psychosocial and environmental factors affecting assistive robot adoption
• Addressing emotional, social and psychological needs of frail elderly users

Innovation

• Co-design workshops with diverse stakeholders
• Persona-based approach for psychosocial factors
• Design requirements addressing real-world viability