Awareness and Acceptance of Emerging Technology and Quadruped Robots in Dementia Care: A Survey Study

The rapid increase in the number of persons with Alzheimer’s Disease or related dementia has led many researchers to develop supplemental care to assist caregivers. One such form of care comes in the form of a quadruped robot that can interact with its environment to provide additional care. However, before such technology is fully implemented, researchers must understand how aware the public is of such technology for dementia care and how they perceive it. In this study, we surveyed 16 adults, all but one of which have been affected by dementia either directly or indirectly. We asked them questions regarding their attitude towards technology in healthcare and the quadruped robot that was demoed for them. It was found that people positively accept these robotic forms of dementia care, even if they do not have a comprehensive understanding of them. Furthermore, regarding the quadruped robot, people do perceive it positively but are not as confident in its ability to provide adequate care. They also have reservations about using robots to care for persons with dementia, mostly because of the lack of a “human touch,” and are afraid that robots might replace human caregivers altogether. From these results, researchers must do their best to not only develop the technology to be as robust as possible but keep the public informed of their research to bridge the gap between this revolutionary technology and its end users.