The presentation 'Older Adults Welcome Robots' reviews the latest studies on robots for older adults: - Aging Societies - A look at the demo-graphical data - The ‘New’ Silver Economy – A Great Opportunity - Robots helping Older Adults – What do the latest studies say? - Summary Older Adults and Robots - A Great Investment? Future Discussions Points: Where could robots help older adults best? What would be the best Human-Robot-Interaction for elderly people? What would be the best design for a robot for older adults?

1. Older Adults Welcome Robots
- Possibilities and Limits of Robotics for Elderly -
Robert M Wenzel
Director of London Global Laboratories
Chairman of London’s Artificial Intelligences Futurists
Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net by Ambro

2. Questions
1. Aging Societies - A look at the demographical data
2. The ‘New’ Silver Economy – A Great Opportunity
3. Robots helping Older Adults – What do the latest studies say?
4. Summary – Older Adults and Robots
5. Future Discussions

3. Aging Societies around the world
Composition of the total dependency
ratio: world and development regions,
1950-2050
Source: Population Division,
DESA, United Nations
Youth vs. old age
The increasing proportions of aged persons shows steady declines in
the proportion of young persons.
People 60 and over will be 32% of the Europe’s total population by 2050
USA Figures:
•By 1900 3 million people aged 65 and older
•By 2010 more than 40 million people aged 65 and older
•By 2050 more than 88.5 million people aged 65 and older
India and China Figures:

4. The ‘New’ Silver Economy
A Great Opportunity
According to the latest findings from the 2nd Asia Pacific Silver
Economy Business Opportunities Report 2013, the Asia Pacific’s
silver economy is expected to hit US$3 trillion by the year 2017.
Mean and median income by household type in Europe (28
Countries) 2011: 14,830 Euro per year
Who are the potential buyers?
•Children who like to ease the life of their parents or don’t have
time to take care or…
•Professional caretakers
•Care insurance companies to lower the costs
•Elderly people

5. Everyday Robotic Tasks for Older Adults
A survey done by the Georgia Institute of Technology
points shows opportunities and limits of robots for
Older Adults:
•50% of healthcare providers would rather have a
robot than a human. Why? Lower costs jobs go often
along with less quality
•Reminders about medications, suggesting medications
is not welcome
•And caregivers wanted to keep some things as human
contact that might seem surprising; helping people
dress, bathing them and feeding them
Robots shall perform narrow, well-defined tasks
whilst ensuring an excellent quality.
Robots shall support people to stay healthy
(Reminder, observing are welcome), but NO decision
making and NO direct human contact such as
bathing, feeding, helping people to dress

6. Challenge in the everyday tasks
Older Adults don’t speak ‘robot’
A study done by the University of Notre Dame
and University of Missouri shows older adults
become tongue-tied when they have to
command a robot by using natural language.
The experiment: Older adults shall describe
the location of a desired object to either a
robot or person. Can the commands of the
older adults translated into robot commands?
Photo Credit: Keith Bujak/Georgia Tech
Patient to robot:
“Could you bring me please my drugs out of the kitchen?”
Patient to human helper:
“Could you bring me please my drugs?
The blue ones on the table in the kitchen.”
When speaking to the robot,
participants preferred to use
fewer words and to adopt a
speaker's perspective
When talking to a human
person, participants used
more words and preferred
an addressee perspective.

7. Robots to cope with diseases
Robotic Companion Animal Comforts Dementia Sufferers
A study, published in Journal of Gerontological Nursing
(Wendy Moyle et al., Exploring the Effect of Companion
Robots on Emotional Expression in Older Adults with
Dementia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial) resulted
In the movie Robot & Frank (2012) an
elderly man suffering from dementia. He
is given an artificially intelligent robot to
help him survive on his own as his
condition worsens.
Objective Function of the robot is the
health of Frank.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
The robotic companion animal appeared as harp seal.
Its AI software and tactile sensor are enabled to
response to touch and sound. The robot could
express surprise, happiness or anger. Furthermore, it
could respond to certain words.
The patients reactions to the robot are comparable to
a real animal companion.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
A therapeutic robot
companion improved
the quality of life for a
small group of people
with mid- to late-stage
dementia. The people
appeared
• happier and
• less anxious

8. Robots to deal with moods
Detecting emotions by using the Kinect
• Example of a Virtual Human and Multimodal Perception for detecting
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejczMs6b1Q4)
-> Detecting Human Emotions by using a Kinect
-> Generating Emotional Robotic Appearance as Reaction to an Emotion
(not to what had been said)

9. Summary
1. The market analysis shows there is a need and a market for robots in elderly care.
2. Studies have proved that robots are useful in elderly care. Hereby, different kind of robots are welcome:
a) Support robots (helping with daily needs such as medication reminder)
b) Robots to ease diseases like dementia
c) Robotic systems to observe vital functions
d) Engaging systems to cope e.g. with moods etc.
3. Older adults do accept the help of robots studies show. But, elderly people don’t trust robots e.g. to make
decisions about their health such as prescription of medication.
4. A survey shows caregiver will use robots to ease their work. However, tasks like bathing, feeding, or dressing
shall be performed by a human caregiver (not by a robotic system).
5. Study proved that robots help to cope better with disease like dementia.
6. Studies have shown that older adults become tongue-tied when speaking with a robot.
7. Research results (e.g. from the MIT ) reveal studies the robotic appearance is very important; Presenting the
same Human-Robot-Interaction system in different robot systems can makes a significant difference. The key
factor is using the anticipation the user has already.
8. Studies (MIT) proved robots don’t need to have “intelligence”. Setting up the right “play” with the human
anticipation is crucial.
Investing in robotics for older adults can be profitable.

10. Future Discussion
1. Where could robots help older adults best?
2. What would be the best Human-Robot-Interaction for
elderly people?
3. What would be the best design for a robot for older adults?
Robert M Wenzel
Director of London Global Laboratories
Chairman of London’s Artificial Intelligences Futurists