A Behavior Adaptation Method for an Elderly Companion Robot-Rui

This paper describes the state-of-the art of an elderly companion robot project, aimed towards the development of personal service robots for the elderly population. We propose a behavior adaptation method that reads interaction signals from the old people, and then adjust interaction output such as daily dialogues, news and whether broadcasting, motion speed and navigation-assist. The method uses detecting the user's speech command, touch-screen input, head position and body posture as subconscious signals that indicate a user's interaction preference. A study with the elderly companion robot that has six interaction behaviors has been conducted. The study result of 8 subjects preliminary suggests that the proposed mechanism enables adaptation to individual preferences.