A social robot to promote intergenerational interaction in community service during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Abstract

Public 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, leading to loneliness and social isolation. On the other hand, universities host service learning education to help those in need. 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. This study aimed to develop a social robot to promote intergeneration interaction that alleviates the loneliness among elderly. A social robot was developed using the Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer, a 7-inch LCD display, a 16-channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver - I2C interface PCA9685 module, and 6 compact servo motors. The LCD was used as the face of the robot. An in-house design robot housing and internal structure were fabricated using 3D printed ABS. The software was coded using Python running on Raspbian OS with three games. Question, narrative, and game flow were generated and controlled by the program with native voice support. The robot voice was controlled by the program and an operator to accommodate different service recipients. The students developed the robot that served the older adults in a community center in the service learning course (gerontechnology) during COVID-19 in compliance with the pandemic control measures. The older adults and students demonstrated good interactions modulated by the robot and game.