WHAT DO OLDER ADULTS WANT FROM SOCIAL ROBOTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? - A PRODUCT-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Adam

The global aging population increases demand on healthcare and social resources, prompting growing interest in social robots and artificial intelligence to support older adults’ well-being. Despite generally positive attitudes, adoption remains limited due to concerns about design, usability, and relevance. This research applies a product-oriented perspective, reviewing 243 articles up to January 2025, extracting 22 product features. Findings link preferred features to autonomy, relatedness, competence, and emotional regulation priorities, informing human-centered design that improves acceptance and adoption.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Product-oriented study approach

Literature search and selection

Product feature extraction

Theoretical organization of features

Self-determination theory

Socioemotional selectivity theory

Key findings and design implications

1154 Innovation in Aging, 2025, Vol. 9, No. S2 Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (People’s Republic), 2. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (People’s Republic) The global aging population is placing increasing pressure on healthcare and social resources. Many have turned to technology to offset the impact of manpower shortage in eldercare. Social robots and artificial intelligence hold promising potential in enhancing older adults’ well-being and quality of life. While older adults generally express positive attitudes towards these technologies, adoption rates remain relatively low, with older adults citing concerns about design, usability, and relevance. Existing technological acceptance models emphasize the effects of individual factors or subjective evaluations (e.g., perceived usefulness) on product acceptance, offering limited guidance on the product attributes that foster positive perceptions among older adults. This study adopted a product-oriented perspective to understand older adults’ preferences for social robots and artificial intelligence. We searched through five databases, including PsycINFO, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, Scopus, and ACM Digital Library, and identified 243 relevant articles published until January 2025. We extracted 22 product features deemed desirable or undesirable by older adults and organized them according to self-determination theory and socioemotional selectivity theory. Older adults valued features that support their autonomy (e.g., customization), relatedness (e.g., facilitating social connections), and competence (e.g., providing living assistance), as well as features serving emotional regulation (e.g., providing entertainment), pro-closeness (e.g., grandchildren-like voices), and self-relevance goals (e.g., offering culturally specific features like dialects). Our synthesis highlights the psychological needs and motivational priorities underlying older adults’ technology preferences. These findings provide actionable insights for designing human-centered technologies that are more likely to be accepted and adopted by older adults. Abstract citation ID: igaf122.3869 WHAT DO OLDER ADULTS WANT FROM SOCIAL ROBOTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? A PRODUCT-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE Nicole Long-ki Fung1, Yueyuan Zheng2, Bertram Shi2, Janet Hui-wen Hsiao2, and Jean Woo1, 1. The Chinese University of

FAQs

Why do older adults show relatively low adoption of social robots and AI despite positive attitudes?

They commonly express concerns about design quality, usability, and whether these technologies are relevant to their needs.

What perspective does the study use to understand older adults’ preferences?

A product-oriented perspective that focuses on product attributes rather than only individual or subjective factors such as perceived usefulness.

How do the extracted product features connect to older adults’ psychological needs?

Valued features are tied to autonomy, relatedness, competence, and emotional regulation goals, including options that support self-relevance and culturally specific preferences.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Adam