Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Robots as Welfare Technologies to Reduce Falls Amongst Older Adults: An Explorative Study from Norway

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology in Everyday Living (HCII 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13331))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This paper investigates robots as Welfare Technologies (WT), in Norway. Previous studies show that Norway follows the demographic trends around the world regarding the aging of the population, the shortage of nurses, and thus, increased costs due to co-morbidity and multiple chronic diseases. The research question addressed is: Is the notion of WT challenged by the adoption of intelligent robots within home care, and if yes, how? To explore robots as WT, we focused specifically on the case of robots as safety alarms for fall prevention, detection, and prediction as part of the Vulnerability in Robot Society research project, and by drawing on the previous research project, namely Multimodal Elderly Care Systems project. At the basis of our theoretical framework, the paper is anchored into the Scandinavian notion of welfare technology. To achieve this, we analyzed data from different research activities (n = 10, hs = 25) through thematic analysis. Findings show that current WT for fall detection has design and technical limitations, whereas robots as advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems could potentially be a solution. We then discuss the findings in the light of the welfare concept. Finally, we conclude that robots as WT does not differ from other technologies, with one exception: they differ from the traditional way of providing (home-)care, bringing in both challenges related to privacy and safety, but also opportunities for reduced costs, personalized, adapted, and higher quality care in the heart of the home.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Beer, J.M., et al.: The domesticated robot: design guidelines for assisting older adults to age in place. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 335–342. New York, NY, USA (2012). https://doi.org/10.1145/2157689.2157806

  2. Unbehaun, D., Aal, K., Carros, F., Wieching, R., Wulf, V.: Creative and cognitive activities in social assistive robots and older adults: results from an exploratory field study with pepper. In: ECSCW 2019 Proceedings of 17th European Conference on. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work ECSCW 2019 Demos Posters Panels (2019). https://doi.org/10.18420/ecscw2019_p07

  3. Doelling, K., Shin, J., Popa, D.O.: Service robotics for the home: a state of the art review. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, pp. 35:1–35:8. New York, NY, USA (2014). https://doi.org/10.1145/2674396.2674459

  4. Bodenhagen, L., Suvei, S.-D., Juel, W.K., Brander, E., Krüger, N.: Robot technology for future welfare: meeting upcoming societal challenges – an outlook with offset in the development in Scandinavia. Heal. Technol. 9(3), 197–218 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-019-00302-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Petrie, H., Darzentas, J.: Older people and robotic technologies in the home: perspectives from recent research literature. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, pp. 29–36. New York, NY, USA (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3056540.3056553

  6. Saplacan, D., Herstad, J., Pajalic, Z.: An analysis of independent living elderly’s views on robots - a descriptive study from the Norwegian context. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions (ACHI). IARIA Conferences, Valencia, Spain (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Saplacan, D., Herstad, J.: An explorative study on motion as feedback: using semi-autonomous robots in domestic settings. Int. J. Adv. Softw. 12(1 & 2), 23 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Saplacan, D., Herstad, J., Tørresen, J., Pajalic, Z.: Division of work tasks between humans and robots: an instrumental analytical study from the home. Multimodal Technol. Interact. J. 4(3), 44 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  9. van Wynsberghe, A.: Designing robots for care: care centered value-sensitive design. Sci. Eng. Ethics 19(2), 407–433 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9343-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Santoni de Sio, F., van Wynsberghe, A.: When should we use care robots? the nature-of-activities approach. Sci. Eng. Ethics 22(6), 1745–1760 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-015-9715-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. van Wynsberghe, A.: To delegate or not to delegate: care robots, moral agency and moral responsibility (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Saplacan, D., Khaksar, W., Torresen, J.: On ethical challenges raised by care robots: a review of the existing regulatory-, theoretical-, and research gaps. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts, Japan/Virtual, p. 8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/ARSO51874.2021.9542844

  13. Torresen, J.: A review of future and ethical perspectives of robotics and AI. Front. Robot. AI 4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2017.00075

  14. World Health Organization, Falls (2021). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/falls. Accessed 26 Jan 2022

  15. Lamb, S.E., Jørstad-Stein, E.C., Hauer, K., Becker, C.: Prevention of Falls Network Europe and Outcomes Consensus Group, Development of a common outcome data set for fall injury prevention trials: the Prevention of Falls Network Europe consensus. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 53(9), 1618–1622 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53455.x

  16. Holte, H.H., Underland, V., Haftstad, E.: Review of systematic reviews on prevention of falls in institutions (Norwegian title: oppsummering av systematiske oversikter om forebygging av fall i institusjone), Knowledge Department, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Systematic overview 13–2015 (2015). https://www.fhi.no/publ/2015/oppsummering-av-systematiske-oversikter-om-forebygging-av-fall-i-institusjo/. Accessed 24 Nov 2021

  17. Statistics Norway, Care services, SSB (2021). https://www.ssb.no/en/helse/helsetjenester/statistikk/sjukeheimar-heimetenester-og-andre-omsorgstenester. Accessed 23 Nov 2021

  18. Gjertsen, J.-E., Fevang, J., Vinje, T., Engesæter, L.B., Steindal, K., Furnes, O.: The norwegian hip fracture register/Nasjonalt Hoftebruddregister. Nor. Epidemiol. 16(2)(Art. no. 2) (2006). https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v16i2.190

  19. Hektoen, L.F.: Kostnader ved hoftebrudd hos elder. Skriftserien (2014). https://www.skriftserien.oslomet.no/index.php/skriftserien/article/view/18. Accessed 14 Feb 2022

  20. Søndergård, D.: Velferdsteknologi: Verktøykasse (2017). http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-4779. Accessed 20 Oct 2021

  21. Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues, Welfare technology. Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues. http://www.nordicwelfare.org/PageFiles/5488/Velferdsteknologi_eng.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec 2017

  22. OED: welfare, n., OED Online. Oxford University Press (2017). http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/226968

  23. Brynn, R.: Universal design and welfare technology. Stud. Health Technol. Inform. 229, 335–344 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hofmann, B.: Ethical challenges with welfare technology: a review of the literature. Sci. Eng. Ethics 19(2), 389–406 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9348-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Thrun, S.: Toward a framework for human-robot interaction. Hum-Comput Interact 19(1), 9–24 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327051hci1901&2_2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Saplacan, D., Torresen, J.: Design, legal, and ethical aspects on intelligent social and care robots: a critical and integrative perspective on the human right to health (care) seen through the lenses of universal design principles. In: Cambridge Handbook on Law, Regulation, and Policy for Human-Robot Interaction, Cambridge University Press (in progress)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schulz, T., Herstad, J., Torresen, J.: Moving with Style: Classifying Human and Robot Movement at Home, pp. 188–193 (2018). https://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&artcleid=achi_2018_10_20_20053. Accessed 24 Mar 2018

  28. Schulz, T., Holthaus, P., Amirabdollahian, F., Koay, K.L.: Humans’ perception of a robot moving using a slow in and slow out velocity profile. In: Proceedings of the 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 594–595. Daegu, Republic of Korea (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Schulz, T., Herstad, J.: Walking away from the robot: negotiating privacy with a robot. Presented at the HCI 2017. Sunderland, UK (2018). https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.83

  30. Schulz, T., Herstad, J., Holone, H.: Privacy at home: an inquiry into sensors and robots for the stay at home elderly. In: Zhou, J., Salvendy, G. (eds.) ITAP 2018. LNCS, vol. 10927, pp. 377–394. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92037-5_28

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  31. Tørresen, J.: Undertaking research with humans within artificial intelligence and robotics: multimodal elderly care systems. Technol. Des. 5(2), 141–145 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2021.1967052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Uddin, M.Z., Khaksar, W., Torresen, J.: Ambient sensors for elderly care and independent living: a survey. Sensors 18(7)(Art. no. 7) (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072027

  33. Noori, F.M., Riegler, M., Uddin, M.Z., Torresen, J.: Human activity recognition from multiple sensors data using multi-fusion representations and CNNs ACM Trans. Multimed. Comput. Commun. Appl. 16(2), 45:1–45:19 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3377882

  34. Zia Uddin, Md., Khaksar, W., Torresen, J.: A thermal camera-based activity recognition using discriminant skeleton features and RNN. In: 2019 IEEE 17th International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), vol. 1, pp. 777–782 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/INDIN41052.2019.8972082

  35. Uddin, Md. Z., Noori, F.M., Torresen, J.: In-home emergency detection using an ambient ultra-wideband radar sensor and deep learning. In: 2020 IEEE Ukrainian Microwave Week (UkrMW), pp. 1089–1093. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/UkrMW49653.2020.9252708

  36. Khaksar, W., Uddin, M.Z., Torresen, J.: Learning from virtual experience: mapless navigation with neuro-fuzzy intelligence. In: 2018 International Conference on Intelligent Systems (IS), pp. 117–124 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/IS.2018.8710525

  37. Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Bedaf, S., de Witte, L.: Robots for elderly care: their level of social interactions and the targeted end user. Stud. Health Technol. Inform. 242, 472–478 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Shulver, W., Killington, M., Morris, C., Crotty, M.: ‘Well, if the kids can do it, I can do it’: older rehabilitation patients’ experiences of telerehabilitation. Health Expect. Int. J. Public Particip. Health Care Health Policy 20(1), 120–129 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12443

  40. Thilo, F.J., Bilger, S., Halfens, R.J., Schols, J.M., Hahn, S.: Involvement of the end user: exploration of older people’s needs and preferences for a wearable fall detection device – a qualitative descriptive study. Patient Prefer. Adherence 11, 11–22 (2016). https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S119177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Sánchez, V.G., Anker-Hansen, C., Taylor, I., Eilertsen, G.: Older people’s attitudes and perspectives of welfare technology in Norway. J. Multidiscip. Health. 12, 841–853 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S219458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Pol, M., van Nes, F., van Hartingsveldt, M., Buurman, B., de Rooij, S., Kröse, B.: Older people’s perspectives regarding the use of sensor monitoring in their home. Gerontologist 56(3), 485–493 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnu104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Mortenson, W.B., Sixsmith, A., Beringer, R.: No place like home? Surveillance and what home means in old age. Can. J. Aging Rev. Can. Vieil. 35(1), 103–114 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980815000549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Kärki, A., Sallinen, M., Kuusinen, J.: How to live independently with or without technology? Stud. Health Technol. Inform. 217, 306–310 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Ministry of Health and Care Services: Innovation in the Care Services, NOU 2011: 11. Ministry of Health and Care Services (2011). https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/nou-2011-11/id646812/Accessed 2 Feb 2022

  46. Saplacan, D., Martinez, S., Bygrave, L.A., Torresen, J.: Universal design principles: an ethical charter for care robots’ design and regulation. Presented at the Sixth International Conference on Universal Design - Transforming our World through Universal Design for Human Development S, Brescia, Italy (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  47. WHO: Ageism in Artificial Intelligence for Health, Global Campaign to combat ageism ISBN 978-92-4-004079-3 (2022). https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240040793. Accessed 14 Feb 2022

  48. Strümke, I., Slavkovik, M., Madai, V.I.: The social dilemma in AI development and why we have to solve it (2021). http://arxiv.org/abs/2107.12977. Accessed 6 Sep 2021

  49. Saplacan, D., Herstad, J.: Fear, Feedback, Familiarity... How are These Connected? - Can familiarity as a design concept applied to digital feedback reduce fear? Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions (ACHI) (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  50. WHO: The Right to Health, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Fact Sheet No. 31. https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/factsheet31.pdf

  51. Saplacan, D.: Situated abilities: Understanding everyday use of ICTs. Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. Reprosentralen (2020). https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/81852

  52. Khaksar, W., Neggers, M., Barakova, E., Torresen, J.: Generation differences in perception of the elderly care robot. In: 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), pp. 551–558 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515534. https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.ezproxy.uio.no/abstract/document/9515534/figures#figures

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work is partially supported by The Research Council of Norway (RCN) as a part of the projects: Vulnerability in the Robot Society (VIROS) under Grant Agreement No. 288285, Predictive and Intuitive Robot Companion (PIRC) under Grant Agreement No. 312333 and through its Centres of Excellence scheme, RITMO with Project No. 262762.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics and Intelligent Systems Research Group (ROBIN), Department of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, 0373, Oslo, Norway

    Diana Saplacan & Jim Tørresen

  2. RITMO Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time, and Motion, Centre of Excellence in Research, Research Council of Norway, University of Oslo, 0373, Oslo, Norway

    Jim Tørresen

Authors
  1. Diana Saplacan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jim Tørresen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Saplacan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Qin Gao

  2. Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Jia Zhou

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Saplacan, D., Tørresen, J. (2022). Robots as Welfare Technologies to Reduce Falls Amongst Older Adults: An Explorative Study from Norway. In: Gao, Q., Zhou, J. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology in Everyday Living. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13331. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05654-3_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05654-3_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05653-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05654-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation