A social robot to promote intergenerational interaction in community service during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Y. J. Mao, D. K. H. Lai, A. K. Y. Cheung, A. Y. C. Tam, D. S. K Cheung, J. C. W. Cheung
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AbstractPublic facilities, including schools and restaurants have been restricted under coercive measures during COVID-19. People were forced to stay at home or residential facilities and the opportunities of face-to-face gathering were minimal. Adults and young people have switched to the online medium for their work and study. However, many older adults could not take advantage of the Internet or online resources because they lacked the skill and resources, leading to loneliness and social isolation. There was an association between depression and stay-home measures, which also impacted the physical functioning of older adults (Kwan et al., 2020). On the other hand, universities hosted service-learning education to help those in need. In addition, students can apply their knowledge learnt from the university onto the society or community, in which the gerontechnology course is one of the good examples. Recently, gerontechnology has been widely embraced by caregivers to promote the well-being of elderly, including the use of smartphone apps, fall detector, anti-wandering sensor and companion robot (Cheung et al, 2010, 2021, 2020). This study aimed to develop a social robot to promote intergenerational interaction that alleviates the loneliness among elderly.Keywords: elderly, companion robot, robot, robotic doll, service learning, community centre, nursing home
Y. J. Mao, D. K. H. Lai, A. K. Y. Cheung, A. Y. C. Tam, D. S. K Cheung, J. C. W. Cheung (2022). A social robot to promote intergenerational interaction in community service during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Gerontechnology, 21(s),1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2022.21.s.691.opp3