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Development and application of a communication robot to improve the emotional state of elderly living alone

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to design user-friendly off-line human–robot interactions based on a telephonic conversation database (TCD), and to provide the elderly living alone independently (ELAI) with psychological support. A TCD was established based on phone calls to 170 ELAI, made once every 2 weeks for 10 years. Based on the TCD, conversation flows were continuously analysed through a Question–answer-response format, which was centred on 366 ordinary topics, 291 physical topics, and 322 psychological topics. Usability was evaluated in a trial involving 15 ELAI in their homes over a 4-to-8-week period. Their emotional states were evaluated using the Profile of Mood States (2nd Edition Short Form) and Functional independence measure (FIM) pre- and post-trial. Eighty-seven per cent of the participants indicated that the robots helped them in their daily lives. A close examination of the changes in all participants showed statistically significant improvements in mood and 3 out of 5 FIM cognitive items. Eighty-seven per cent of study participants wished to continue the experiment. We determined that the communication robots, in conjunction with the TCD, improved the psychological well-being of the ELAI.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Emeritus Chizuko Ueno, the University of Tokyo, for providing precious suggestions based on the sociological perspectives. The authors thank Dr. Takahiro Tsujikawa for his valuable input.

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Correspondence to Satoshi Tsujikawa.

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A patent application related to the methodology described in the present work has been filed by ST and YH.

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This study was approved by the Kadoma City Medical Association and the Ethics Committee of Osaka Institute of Technology, and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Tsujikawa, S., Tsutsui, H. & Honda, Y. Development and application of a communication robot to improve the emotional state of elderly living alone. Univ Access Inf Soc 23, 1979–1986 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-023-01007-9

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