Design and Development of a Technological Platform Based on a Sensorized Social Robot for Supporting Older Adults and Caregivers: GUARDIAN Ecosystem

Ilaria Ciuffreda, Giulio Amabili, Sara Casaccia (Corresponding author), Marco Benadduci, Arianna Margaritini, Elvira Maranesi, Fabrizio Marconi, Alexander De Masi, Janna Alberts, Judith de Koning, Raymond Cuijpers, Gian Marco Revel, Henk Herman Nap, Martijn Vastenburg, Alexandra Villaverde Naveira, Roberta Bevilacqua

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

In this paper, a new ecosystem to support older adults and their caregivers in an indoor living environment is proposed. The GUARDIAN ecosystem is designed to address the different needs of end users in different countries. The ecosystem consists of a socially assistive robot (SAR), including sensors, and two mobile applications (one for caregivers and one for the older user). Starting from a user-centred and value-sensitive co-design approach, three key user requirements have been identified: monitoring, reminding, and social companionship. User requirements were translated into technical requirements to develop a flexible system architecture. Usability tests were performed to verify the satisfaction level about the GUARDIAN concept. User tests were carried out in three different countries involving 13 older adults, 14 informal carers and 15 formal carers showing that the proposed ecosystem satisfies the user requirements. These results confirm the feasibility of the application of the GUARDIAN ecosystem in living indoor environments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)803-822
Number of pages20
JournalInternational Journal of Social Robotics
Volume17
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2025

Funding

FundersFunder number
European Commission

    Keywords

    • Active and assisted living
    • Reminders
    • Remote monitoring
    • Social companionship
    • Social robot

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