Elderly perception and expectation toward the robots: A preliminary study

The robotic field has drawn a great attention. People find it astonishing as it is able to assist in performing a variety of tasks. The world is getting older with the growing population of the elderly, thus robots are increasingly being observed as social entities to be integrated in people's daily lives that allows robots to act as an assisted therapy which has been applied in care for elderly who suffers from the Alzheimer disease for years. The methods used for this preliminary study are an interview and a survey where an interview with NINE (9) caregivers and questionnaires were distributed to THIRTEEN (13) elderlies aged 60 years old and above. The results from the questionnaire shows that a majority of the elderly agree that the praying robot could function in assisting them to execute spiritual practices. This study also found that majority of the elderly preferred a humanoid robot instead of a pet robot. Based on this preliminary study, the finding reveals that the presence of an assistive spiritual robot can benefit the elderly by assisting them to perform spiritual practices.