The Presence of Humanoid Robot With Older Adults at Homes

Background Older adults experience significant physical, cognitive and environmental losses in their later life. Self-supported 'aging-in-place' has benefits for mental health and the quality of life for older people. In the field of gerontological nursing, person-centered holistic care highlights the importance of enabling older people and their significant others (such as older spouse or other family caregivers) to establish healthful relationships so to improve older adults' physical, psychological, mental and social wellbeing. However, globally and also most recommended by Hong Kong government, home-based care services for older adults have not been fully developed. Research on the use of robots supporting older adults is given increasing attention in the globe, but most of them were focused on aiding older adults who are living with dementia or residing in nursing homes. More robotic research needs to be conducted at their own homes in the community and support older people in having an independent lifestyle.

Study Aim This study aims to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of home-based physical robot HUMANE by community-dwelling Chinese older adults and soon-to-be-aged adults and their family caregivers.

Study design and method This study will employ a two-arm pilot randomized control trial with qualitative interviews. People aged 50 or above who are receiving home care from family members will be recruited to this study. Purposive sampling will be adopted in recruitment. The robot HUMANE will be used by the intervention group for a 6-week trial. Loneliness, cognitive function, emotional status, self-efficacy, and sense of coherence will be measured at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6) to examine preliminary effect of using robot at home. System usage will be measured at immediately post-intervention (week-6) for assessing the perceived usability of the robot.

Data analysis SPSS Statistics 26 will be adopted for all analyses. Descriptive statistics, generalized estimating equations (GEE) models and a deductive content analysis approach will be used in data analysis.

Significances of the study The study will add evidences in the field that social robot may be able to address some of the unmet needs of older people living at their own homes in the community, particularly relating to loneliness, enhancing the development of home-based care services for older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Cognitive Impairment; Loneliness; Self Efficacy; Sense of Coherence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: A humanoid social robot

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ethnic Chinese aged 50 years and above;
• Need home-based care from family caregiver, including spouses;
• Live in his/her own home (not in residential care homes) in Hong Kong;
• Are able to communicate in Cantonese.

Exclusion Criteria:

• With acute mental disorders or disabling diseases that may limit the practice of engaging with robot; and
• have limited access to electricity and this makes them hard to use technology at home.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Experimental: A humanoid social robot; Project team will set up a physical robot at their homes. Each participant will be given a protocol to engage with different features of the robot every day. Participants are asked to complete the assigned daily tasks at their own homes	Behavioral: A humanoid social robot; A humanoid social robot-mediated programme, including human-robot interactions, listening songs and daily news, doing physical activities and play memory games

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Loneliness	6-item Loneliness scale: It consists of two subscales: emotional loneliness (1-3 items) and social loneliness (4-6 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. A score of 3 is the optimal cut point, with moderate or severe loneliness [score of 3-6]	at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Memory	5-items Abbreviated Memory Inventory for the Chinese (AMIC) scores range from 0-5 (1 point for each item; 0-best to 5-worse). An AMIC score ≥ 3 is predictive of MCI	at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6)
Emotion status	4. PHQ-2 includes 2 items. Not at all scores 0; Several days scores 1; More than half the days scores 2; and Nearly every day scores 3. Refuse to answer we put -99. A PHQ-2 score ranges from 0-6. A score of 3 is the optimal cut point, If the score is 3 or greater, major depressive disorder is likely.	at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6)
Sense of coherence (SOC)	The SOC-13 scale has three components: Comprehensibility (items 2, 6, 8, 9, 11), Manageability (items 3, 5, 10, 13) and Meaningfulness (items 1, 4, 7, 12). This scale is rated on a 7-point likert scale, a total score can also be used and the coding for items 1, 2, 3, 7 and 10 should be reversed. SOC scores range from 13 to 91	at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6)
Self-efficacy	The Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale is a reliable and valid scale that can be used with confidence in community Chinese soon-to-be-aged adults. The Scale consists of 10 items that measure a generalized sense of competence. All items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1='Not at all true' to 4='Exactly true'. The higher the score, the greater self-efficacy the respondents possess.	at baseline (day-1) and immediately post-intervention (week-6)
System usability	The System Usability Scale (SUS) uses to measure perceived usability of the social robot in the intervention group. SUS has 10 items, with ratings on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree). The overall SUS score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher score indicating higher usability.	Immediately post-intervention (week-6)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Zhao IY, Leung AYM, Huang Y, Liu Y. A Social Robot in Home Care: Acceptability and Utility Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Innov Aging. 2025 Mar 8;9(5):igaf019. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igaf019. eCollection 2025.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 26, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 5, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 19, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Behavior; Cognitive Dysfunction; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: P0041148

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: individual participant data (IPD) will only be available per request and approve by the study team. The study team will publish the research findings without individual recognized data

Drug and device information, study documents

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