From the evaluation of acceptability to the design of an assistive robot for elderly

According to a study conducted by ARS Toscana in 2014 the old people in Tuscany were 916.640 and there will be an increase of 36% in 2050. The “non-self-sufficiency” of elderly is a condition which entails their need of assistance. Often such a condition leads them to move from their home to the nursing home, radically changing their habits and everyday life. Over the past few years, robotics has represented a potential solution to improve the quality of life. This paper describes the methodology used for CloudIA research project, which concerns the development of an assistive robot to support fragile and non-self-sufficient people. An ad hoc questionnaire was developed to evaluate the acceptability. The questionnaire was addressed to 75 people, aged between 30 and 99 years, living in five nursing homes. The results allowed to target the design of the new robot.