Robot exercise instructor: A socially assistive robot system to monitor and encourage physical exercise for the elderly

We describe the design and implementation of a socially assistive robot that monitors the performance of a user during a seated arm exercise scenario, with the purpose of providing motivation to the user to complete the task and to improve performance. The visual arm pose recognition procedure used by the robot in tracking user performance, the three exercise games, and the methodology behind the human-robot interaction dialogue are presented. A two-condition experimental study was conducted with elderly participants to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the robot exercise system, the results of which demonstrate the viability and usefulness of the system in motivating exercise among elderly users.