Article

The growing number of elderly individuals presents new challenges for society.
Many elderly individuals have physical or cognitive impairments and require
support from caregivers. An attempt to overcome the limitations caused by the
lack of human caregivers is the inclusion of assistive technology such as
socially active robots. The Domeo-project of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint
Programme of the European Union aims to develop a new companion robotic system
that would allow assistance to the elderly. The requirements and attitude of the
potential users and caregivers have been assessed in Austria, France and Hungary.
The robot functions were demonstrated to the participants. Three focus groups
were formed: potential end users, older caregivers and younger caregivers. The
discussions were recorded and processed according to six aspects: (i)
acceptability and privacy, (ii) pertinence of services, (iii) possible obstacles,
(iv) motivation level to use the proposed services, (v) organizational issues and
(vi) recommendations. Minor differences were observed between the countries, but
there were considerable differences regarding the age of the participants. The
younger caregivers want to be assured of the safety of their client and to
receive immediate notification in case of an emergency. As for the elderly, the
most important aspect is to gain a companion and a physical helper. Many of the
recommendations can be taken into consideration during robot development, but
some of them are not realistic at present.

Langue : ANGLAIS