Abstract:
Previous research suggests that older adults’ sense of meaning and happiness can be enhanced through self-reflection exercises. Building on this, we designed four self-reflection modules delivered by the QTrobot. These modules were developed with a focus on three different time orientations—past, present, and future—and incorporated elements of life satisfaction and the PERMA model of well-being.
The results indicate that about half of our older adult participants experienced subjective improvements in meaning, happiness, and a desire to make positive life changes during each module. Notably, 11 out of 15 participants reported changes in at least one of these measures after completing all four interactions. Based on these findings, we provide several recommendations for updating these modules for autonomous and long-term deployment using the robot.
Reference:
N. Randall, T. Saga, W. Kamino, K. M. Tsui, S. Šabanović and S. Nagata, “Realizing a Life Well Lived: The Design of a Home Robot to Assist Older Adults with Self-Reflection and Intentional Living,” 2023 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Busan, Korea, Republic of, 2023, pp. 1034-1041, doi: 10.1109/RO-MAN57019.2023.10309496