Socially assistive walker for daily living assistance in older adults

Introduction: This paper addresses the growing healthcare needs of an ageing population and the lack of advanced technologies with social capabilities that are cost effective, user friendly, and readily adopted. In response to this motivation, a socially assistive walker is designed to provide physical and cognitive support in activities of daily living for older adults.

Methods: Physical and cognitive support is provided by walker's structure, sensors, and feedback interfaces to assist users daily living activities, as well as, in navigating environment safely and efficiently. The walker's design arises from semi-structured interviews conducted with ageing experts, leading to the development of two levels or modes of social interaction, namely low and high interaction.

Results and discussion: In a cohort of 14 adults, the study found the device easy to use regardless of the interaction mode, with 78.5% expressing a preference for the version featuring embodiment, verbal feedback, and more proactive cues (p $<$ 0.05). The results also prompted ideas and suggestions for new designs based on insights gleaned from the user. This research contributes to the field of socially assistive robotics by offering an example of a user centred approach to address the healthcare challenges an ageing population poses.