Exploring the Potential of Light-Enhanced HRI to Promote Social Interactions in People with Dementia

Research has shown that a pet robot could constitute a leverage point to open a communication channel in a triadic relation between a person with dementia and others. Additionally, tangible light projections have been shown to capture the attention of people with dementia and contribute to social interaction. Following these findings, we designed a prototype of a light-enhanced Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) for people with dementia using the robot Pleo and tested its potential to foster social interaction with 19 experts in the field of dementia and care technology in a within-subjects online study. Experts were shown a video of the prototype, as well as two videos of comparable activities with only the light or only the robot. Results showed no significant differences in the activities’ potential to stimulate social interaction and enjoyment, while they disclosed that the light-enhanced HRI could be more difficult to understand at a cognitive level. While experts considered the robot-only activity as more suited for individual interactions, they perceived the light-enhanced HRI as more suited for small sized groups. This latter result seems to suggest that adding a tangible light to an HRI for people with dementia could convert it from an individual to a group activity.