Challenges in Adopting Companion Robots: An Exploratory Study of Robotic Companionship Conducted with Chinese Retirees

TL;DR

This study explores Chinese retirees' perceptions and attitudes towards companion robots, highlighting social and cultural factors affecting adoption and revealing mismatches between robot features and older adults' needs.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the social context and factors influencing adoption of companion robots among healthy older adults in China.

Findings

Older adults' perceptions are shaped by social and cultural factors.

Mismatch exists between current robot features and older adults' needs.

Factors influencing adoption include self-disclosure, companionship quality, and infrastructure integration.

Abstract

Companion robots hold immense potential in providing emotional support to older adults in the rapidly aging world. However, questions have been raised regarding whether having a robotic companion benefits healthy older adults, how they perceive the value of companion robots, and what their relationship with companion robots would be like. To understand healthy older adults' perceptions, attitudes, and relationships toward companion robots, we conducted multiple focus groups with eighteen retirees. Our findings underscore the social context encountered by older adults in China and reveal the mismatch between the current value proposition of companion robots and healthy older adults' needs. We further identify factors influencing the adoption of robotic companionship, which include individuals' self-disclosure tendencies, quality of companionship, differentiated value, and seamless collaboration with aging-in-community infrastructure and services.