Robots must appear more convincingly

A forecast for the year 2060: Every third inhabitant will be older than 65: Nursing shortage in Germany! The current figures of the Federal Statistical Office reveal the big challenges the population development in Germany implies. However, help is on its way – by service robots. Within the project "WiMi Care", User Interface Design GmbH (UID) develops and tests robots for nursing care together with research partners. Now, the "little helpers" had to stand the first practical test in a nursing home at Stuttgart.

Nadine Petrova has been working there as a nurse for twelve years. Recently, she has got a new colleague: It has four castor wheels, a tray, and one arm with three fingers and actively supports Nadine Petrova to empty trash bins, transport laundry and supply the elderly with beverages. The rolling helper is a service robot. What may look like a mere dream of future could become reality in nursing care in a few years.

The service robots have been developed to a point where they had to stand the practical test for the first time. In May 2010, the first tests were carried out at the nursing home "Parkheim Berg" at Stuttgart. The project partners of the research project "WiMi Care", which has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 2009, are in charge of the study, including the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), the MLR System GmbH for Material Flow and Logistic (MLR) and User Interface Design GmbH (UID).

Prior to the tests, UID conducted an extensive use context analysis by means of on- site observations, focus groups as well as by modeling prototypical users, so-called personas. The activities and problems of these personas were then described in scenarios. Based on this information, the service robots could be designed. "After thorough analysis, we developed a concept of the screen design to create first prototypes for an iPhone application and the display of the service robots", says Peter Klein, manager of this project at UID.

These prototypes were tested with the robots "CASERO" of MLR System GmbH and "Care-O-bot 3" of Fraunhofer IPA. "The goal of the first test stage was to examine the technical feasibility of some scenarios and to get a first feedback from the users. And this goal was achieved", says Birgit Graf of Fraunhofer IPA.

During the test, "Care-O-bot 3" got water from a water dispenser and brought it to the common room to serve the elderly. "All inhabitants responded positively to the robot and understood quickly that they were supposed to take the cup off the tray", says Birgit Graf. The only drawback was: Only a few actually drank the water. Birgit Graf therefore explains the goals for the next project stage: "The robots must appear more convincingly to avoid that they are regarded as a pastime and to achieve that the inhabitants take the request to drink seriously."

The next test stage is scheduled to start in 2011. Apart from improved interaction with the users, the scenarios will be further developed, e.g. to entertain the inhabitants and to activate them by means of a touch screen for family games or memory training programs.

Additional information on the research project "WiMi Care", a description of the methods of the scenario-based design as well as further project results can be found at www.wimi-care.de.

Links for further information

• Website of the "WiMi-Care" project
• Website of the University of Duisburg-Essen
• Website of Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA)
• Website of MLR System GmbH for Material Flow and Logistic (MLR)

Contact

User Interface Design GmbH
Marion Gottschling, Head of Corporate Communications
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phone +49 (0) 7141 3 77 00 0
fax +49 (0) 7141 3 77 00 99

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