Exercising with Baxter: preliminary support for assistive social-physical human-robot interaction.
Naomi T Fitter, Mayumi Mohan, Katherine J Kuchenbecker and 1 others
PMID 32066467WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults reported higher exercise and pain levels than younger adults during short robot-game samples, but both groups rated some games as enjoyable and chose favorites for free play.
Key findings
01Game type affected reported exercise and pain levels, and older adults reported higher exercise and pain than younger adults.
02After the game session, participants reported greater comfort with the robot, greater trust in it, and greater willingness to follow its example.
03All participants chose a favorite game for free play, and favorite-game choices did not differ between younger and older adults.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 39 adults completed the study, and the authors say the sample was not uniformly representative of the target population. The experiment was one 90-minute lab session, with 90-second game samples, so it does not show what would happen with repeated use in a home or assisted living setting. Because all participants played all eight games in a within-subjects order, the authors say this may have exaggerated differences between games. The robot was not fully autonomous during the study, and one participant broke a Baxter part. All participants had full function in their arms and hands and normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing, so the findings may not apply to patients with reduced function.
Declared interests
The supplied text states that the work was supported by the National Science Foundation. It does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that a robot alone improves exercise or health. The study used a package of robot movement, music, physical contact, and game rules, and it measured short-session self-ratings in 39 people.