Global demographics trend toward an aging population. Hence, there will be an increased social demand for elderly care. Recently, assistive technologies such as service robots have emerged and can help older adults to live independently. This paper reports a review starting from 1999 of the existing mobile service robots used for older adults to grow old at home. We describe each robot from the viewpoint of applications, platforms, and empirical studies. Studies reported that mobile social robots could assist older adults throughout their daily activities such as reminding, household tasks, safety, or health monitoring. Moreover, some of the reported studies indicate that mobile service robots can enhance the well-being of older adults and decrease the workload for their caregivers.

In this study, we aim to recover the interval hull of the set of feasible cost functions that can make uncertain observations optimal for a class of nonlinear constrained parametric optimization problems when all uncertainty and disturbances acting on observations or modeling are taken bounded but otherwise unknown. Fostering on inverse Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions, we first state the solving equations as a constraint satisfaction problem, then show how to derive a safe over-approximation of the feasible solution set combining standard numerical tools and a posteriori validation with guaranteed methods based on interval analysis. The approach is evaluated on two well tuned numerical examples: a discrete unicycle robot model and a planar elastica model, respectively.

Background: Intelligent powered wheelchairs remain a popular research topic that can improve users’ quality of life. Although our multidisciplinary research team has put a lot of effort into adding features based on end-users needs and impairments since 2006, there are still open issues regarding the usability and functionalities of an intelligent powered wheelchair (IPW). Methods: For this reason, this research presents an experience with our IPW followed by a study in two parts: a quantitative one based on the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and a qualitative one through open questions regarding IPW functionalities with novice users, e.g., IPW non-users. These users never used an IPW before, but are users and aware of the impacts of the technology used in our IPW, being undergraduate to postdoctoral students and staff (faculty, lecturers, research engineers) at the Faculty of Engineering of Université de Sherbrooke. Results: The qualitative analyses identified different behaviours among the novice users. The quantitative analysis via SUS questionnaire done with novice users reports an “okay” rating (equivalent with a C grade or 68 SUS Score) for our IPW’s usability. Moreover, advantages and disadvantages opinions were gathered on the IPW as well as comments which can be used to improve the system. Conclusions: The results reported in these studies show that the system, e.g., IPW, was judged to be sufficiently usable and robust by novice users, with and without experience with the software used in developing the IPW.

Over the years, research on interactions between older adults (OAs) and robots suggest that robots can address needs of OAs and are generally well perceived by them. To synchronize user needs with technological capabilities, we follow an iterative and incremental approach: prototypes are showcased to users to collect observations on their interactions with the robots, and the design is refined until suitable interaction scenarios can be implemented before initiating trials over longer periods of time. This paper presents the use of Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to conduct short exploratory studies as part of the robot design process. Surveys and observations gathered before and after the interactions document the interaction experience using metrics such as utility, design, and reliability. Eleven OAs from two long-term care facilities interacted with a tabletop robot we designed. This paper reports on how the interactions were perceived by the OAs, illustrating how CFIR can be used for such type of studies.