Development and Deployment of a Mobile Manipulator for Assisting and Entertaining Elders Living in Supportive Apartment Living facilities

In this paper a novel telescopic manipulator was adapted to a mobile robotic base to perform manipulation tasks in an elder care facility. As indicated by our previous work, leisure activities and engagement in socialization were desirable among elders, and a physical game assisted by the robot was chosen to investigate both its acceptance and interaction with the older adults. The robot was deployed at an assisted living center and performed multiple interactions. The manipulator was able to successfully retrieve items from different heights as part of the game and results from post-interaction surveys with elders indicated high perceived usefulness and comfort in having the robot as an assistant in the game.