A Study on Congruency in Expressive Robot Movement While Delivering Food to Seniors

This study investigates the user experience and preferences of older adults who received food from a social robot with expressive movement tailored to the kind of food it delivered. The robot presented food items, either favored or disfavored, employing approaching behaviors customized to correspond with or oppose the individuals’ respective preferences or aversions (i.e., liked food presented with happy behavior or liked food presented with sad expressive behavior). The study measured user experience and engagement utilizing a survey and observations. Our results indicate there is no significant difference between user experience and engagement in both behavioral conditions. These findings suggest that expressive robot behavior while presenting food may not be necessary. A possible explanation for these findings is the lack of the older adult’s attention on the robot when receiving the food, as their attention is primarily directed towards the food itself. This result contrasts with a previous study that showed that seniors preferred behavior congruent with the emotional valence of the news it delivered.