Medication management is a significant challenge for older adults, and the resultant drug-related problems are linked with hospitalizations and increased need for nursing homes. In this work, we explored the role of a socially assistive robot for one aspect of medication management: sorting. Specifically, we proposed a human-centric approach towards the design of a robot assisting in a medication sorting task. The approach is based on the analyses of occupational therapists who are trained in evaluating and assisting older adults in important self-care skills and emphasizes the role of autonomy on the part of the person performing a medication sorting task. We developed and evaluated two robot prototypes that assist a person in a medication sorting task. In both prototypes, evaluated by students (N=31) at an American university, we found that subjects voluntarily greeting the robot experienced the emotion of the interaction differently from non-greeters. Greeters of the physical robot gave a lower emotional rating of the interaction, whereas greeters of the virtual robot found the emotion of the experience to be better than the non-greeters.
@article{wilsonetal18sr,
title={Supporting Human Autonomy in a Robot-Assisted Medication Sorting Task},
author={Wilson, Jason R. and Lee, Nah Young and Saechao, Annie and Tickle-Degnen, Linda and
Scheutz, Matthias},
year={2018},
journal={International Journal of Social Robotics},
volume={10},
pages={621--641}
url={https://hrilab.tufts.edu/publications/wilsonetal18sr.pdf}
doi={10.1007/s12369-017-0456-1}
}