Older Adults'Preferences for Feedback Cadence from an Exercise Coach Robot

2026-01-13

AI Summary

This study investigates how to optimize the interaction strategy of exercise-coaching robots for older adults by modulating the frequency of verbal and nonverbal feedback to enhance user acceptance and experience. Through an online video-based evaluation experiment, older participants rated robot behaviors exhibiting varying feedback rhythms. Integrating human-robot interaction design principles with multimodal feedback analysis, the research uncovers the interplay between verbal and nonverbal feedback pacing. Findings reveal that adjusting the frequency of feedback in either modality not only influences perceptions of that specific modality but also significantly alters evaluations of the other, offering empirical evidence and novel insights for designing personalized, multimodal social robot interactions tailored to older users.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

People can respond to feedback and guidance in different ways, and it is important for robots to personalize their interactions and utilize verbal and nonverbal communication cues. We aim to understand how older adults respond to different cadences of verbal and nonverbal feedback of a robot exercise coach. We conducted an online study of older adults, where participants evaluated videos of the robot giving feedback at different cadences for each modality. The results indicate that changing the cadence of one modality affects the perception of both it and the other modality. We can use the results from this study to better design the frequency of the robot coach's feedback during an exercise session with this population.

Problem

• older adults
• feedback cadence
• exercise coach robot
• verbal feedback
• nonverbal feedback

Innovation

• feedback cadence
• older adults
• exercise coach robot
• multimodal feedback
• human-robot interaction