JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Older Chinese immigrants constitute the largest older Asian ethnic population in New Zealand. Aging in a foreign land can be complex, presenting increasing challenges for gerontology scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Older Chinese immigrants are more susceptible to experiencing loneliness and social isolation compared to native older people, primarily due to language, transportation and cultural barriers. These factors subsequently impact their physical and mental health. With advancement in robotic technology, aged care robots are being applied to support older people with their daily living needs. However, studies of using robots with older immigrants living in the community are sparse. Their preferences of appearance and function of aged care robots are unclear. This unclear information impacts the the acceptance and usability of robots, highlighting the need for a user-centered design approach.

Objective:

This study aimed to explore older Chinese immigrants’ needs and preferences toward the appearance and function of aged care robots and to examine their relationships with the demographic characteristics of participants.

Methods:

A cross-sectional design was used in this study, which was undertaken between March and May 2020. A total of 103 participants completed an online survey.

Results:

The average age of participants was 68.7 years (SD 5.5). The results suggest that 42% (43/103) of participants preferred an adult human-like appearance, while 32% (33/103) suggested an animal-like appearance. These participants reported higher scores in both rigorousness and friendliness compared to other robot personalities. Participants’ expressed more preferences on functions of housework assistance (86/103, 84%), language translation (79/103, 77%), health monitoring (78/103, 76%), facial expressions (77/103, 75%), news reading (66/103, 64%) and security monitor (65/103, 63%). These preferences were found to be significantly associated with marital status, financial status and length of immigration.

Conclusions:

In order to support immigrant populations to age well in a foreign country and address the growing shortage of health and social professionals, it is of prime importance to develop reliable robotic technology services that are tailored based on the needs and preferences of individuals. We collected and compared the perspectives of immigrant and non-immigrant on using robots to support aging-in-place. The results on users’ needs and preferences inform robotic technology services, indicating a need to prioritize older Chinese immigrants’ preference towards aged care robots that perform housework assistance, language translation, health and safety monitoring, and robots with human-like features.