Older Adults’ Acceptance of Robot-Led Rehabilitative Exercise

An aging global population has increased the demand placed upon physical therapists and caregivers. Regular exercise has been established as a key component of healthy aging, but adherence is negatively affected by factors such as a lack of intrinsic motivation and limited access to quality coaching. Assistive robots may address this rising demand, but there are mixed results regarding the acceptance of robotic assistants, and few exercise and physical therapy robots are widely available. Prior work evaluating one such system demonstrated that older adults with Parkinson's disease accepted the system and found it useful for personalized exercise coaching. Building upon this work, feedback from 21 neurotypical older adults, after having exercised with this system, was utilized to explore the social acceptance of robot-led exercise and identify facilitators and barriers to adoption. This study's findings inform improvements to the system's design, which represents a step towards the deployment of this technology beyond limited trials in research clinics.