Acceptability in Dialogues With the Robot EBO

Acceptability in Dialogues Between the Robot EBO and Older Adults

This is a descriptive observational study (first results cross-sectional study, second results longitudinal study). The participants of the study will be exposed to a dialogue with the robot EBO. The user and the therapist's acceptability of the robot, the robot-user interaction during the conversation and the conversation parameters will be assessed.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nervous System Diseases
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Interaction and exposure with the Robot EBO

Detailed Description

This is a descriptive observational study (first results cross-sectional study, second results longitudinal study). The participants of the study will be exposed to a dialogue with the robot EBO. The user and the therapist's acceptability of the robot will be measure. Also the robot-user interaction during the conversation and the conversation parameters will be assessed. The assessements will be done at week 0 and at week 3. During weeks 1 and 2 the robot will be present in the therapeutic activities of the center.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 6

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Cáceres, Spain, 10003
    • University of Extremadura

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 65 years and older (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The population of study will be patients with neurological disorders who receive rehabilitation treatment in socio-health centers in Extremadura (Spain).

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Users of socio-health centers in Extremadura (Spain).
• Patients with neurological pathology diagnosed by a specialist doctor.
• Over 65 years of age
• Minimental State Examination with a score greater than or equal to 21 (mild-moderate cognitive impairment).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe cognitive impairment
• Language impairment that prevents the use of verbal communication.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Robot interaction; EBO is a robotic platform consisting of the following: A screen display capable of generating emotions (sadness, joy, neutral, anger, disgust and surprise), RGB camera, basic navigation system. EBO must be controlled by a teleoperator through a user-friendly and simple interface. Communication should be as immediate as possible, as well as predefined. In any case, the dialogue flow can be modified if necessary. The interface, at the same time, allows the possibility of sending emotions and small movements to the robot, to accompany the dialogue with certain elements of emotionality. The experiment replicates the Wizard of Oz technique. In this technique, the human tele-operator controls the robot without the person noticing it as he is in another room. For this purpose, a user interface will be displayed on the teleoperator's terminal and the commands will be reproduced by the EBO robot

Other: Interaction and exposure with the Robot EBO; The participants will interact with the Robot EBO. The robot will be control by an operator that will conduct a dialogue. The dialogue will include questions related to the social, leisure, activities of daily living and informative areas.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Robot-user interaction during the conversation: Conversation topic that most motivates the user or with which the user most interacts with the robot measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Robot-user interaction during the conversation measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Robot-user interaction during the conversation: attempts to touch the robot by the patient measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Robot-user interaction during the conversation measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Robot-user interaction during the conversation: times the user asks the robot questions measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Robot-user interaction during the conversation measured by recording and viewing the conversation.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Robot-user interaction during the conversation: emotions that the conversation provokes in the patient measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Robot-user interaction during the conversation measured by recording and viewing the conversation: emotions that the conversation provokes in the user (Standard, happy, sad, angry)	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Robot-user interaction during the conversation: number of total interactions measured by recording and viewing the conversation	Robot-user interaction during the conversation measured by recording and viewing the conversation.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Conversation parameters: time of the dialogue measured by the robot's register	Conversation parameters measured by the robot's register	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Conversation parameters: speed of response measured by the robot's register	Conversation parameters (measured by the robot's register): speed of response (time taken by the patient to respond)	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Conversation parameters: eye contact and patient's attention measured by the robot's register	Conversation parameters (measured by the robot's register): eye contact with the robot and the attention of the patient to follow the conversation.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
Conversation parameters: repetition of questions measured by the robot's register	Conversation parameters (measured by the robot's register): number of times the patient needed to be asked a question again.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
User acceptability of the robot with the Technology Acceptance Model questionnaire	User acceptability of the robot measured with the Technology Acceptance Model. This scale has good validity and reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha value above 0.8 (Alenazy, Mugahed Al-Rahmi, & Khan, 2019). It assesses the following dimensions relating to the technology product: Perceived ease of use: the extent to which users believe that using a particular system would improve their performance.; Perceived usefulness: the extent to which the individual believes that using the system will be effortless; Attitude towards use; Relevance A higher scores indicates a higher acceptability.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention
User acceptability of the robot measures with an specific designed questionnaire	User acceptability of the robot measured with a questionnaire designed by the authors of the study. The questionnaire has 10 items that evaluate the acceptability of the robot by the user. This 10 questions have 3 choice answer with the options being yes, no, I don not know. There is one open question to collect qualitative data a¡regarding the dialogue and the acceptability.	Measured at the exposure/dialogue of the patient with the robot EBO during the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Extremadura

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 15, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 2, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 14, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): May 21, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 16, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 15, 2022
• Last Verified: December 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Nervous System Diseases; Robot; acceptability
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: 128/2018

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No