Presentation
DH1 - "Do What I Say": Designing a Voice Assistant to Assist Older Adults in Product Assembly
SessionPoster Session 2
DescriptionOverview
Voice assistants (VAs) may provide useful assembly instruction, but little work has explored their use with older adults for this purpose. In a qualitative field study with six older adults, requirements for assembly instruction and voice or VA technology design were gathered, leading to initial insights about component identification, verification, readability, sociability, and dialog content. Results from an ethnographic study with six older adults informed the design of a VA (“Build2Race”) to aid an older adult assembly task. A usability and feasibility evaluation of the VA was then carried out with three young adults to ensure that the VA provided good general user experience as a first step towards implementing the VA with older adults. The requirements and prototype design presented in this work should provide useful design guidance for researchers interested in assembly or instructional tasks for older adults.
Background
Many adults want to live independently in their homes as long as possible and in order to do so they should be able to conduct as many activities of daily living, and routine tasks as possible. While younger relatives or trades people can help, having the confidence and skill to perform relatively simple assembly tasks, makes older people more independent while also providing them with useful physical and cognitive exercise. Assembly tasks are required for a range of products designed for older adults, which are often packaged for sale in unassembled, including exercise equipment [1, 5] and medical devices [7, 13]. Exercise equipment, in particular, is challenging for older adults to set up [6] [9, p. 7] [11, p. 13], especially for those living independently without technical expertise. These products are also difficult to implement in eldercare settings due to high staff workloads. While specialized equipment can be shipped pre-assembled to organizations like long term care homes, this adds to shipping costs and the ultimate cost of the product [2]. For people with sufficient physical capacity, the main barrier to successful product assembly is knowledge of the steps required in the assembly process. While the steps can be written down in an assembly manual, it may be hard for people with visual disabilities to read the instructions and it is difficult to switch attention back and forth between focusing on the manual and focusing on the components that need to be assembled. Thus, voice assistants (VAs) should be useful in helping older adults to carry out manual assembly of products independently, since they act similarly to a helpful person who is talking to them and they allow the person doing the assembly to focus on the assembly materials. Doing the assembly themselves also helps people understand how a product works. The case for using VAs with older adults is also supported by results of previous research showing that older people perceive VAs more favourably than mobile phones or personal computers, with a voice interface being generally easier to use than interfaces that may require good visual ability and manual dexterity [10, 15]. Extensive literature has demonstrated the potential of VAs to effectively train and assist personnel or users who are not technical experts in performing manufacturing assembly (e.g., [3, 8, 12]). Past work on voice assistance in assembly tasks has focused on manufacturing assembly, where the person may be working with robots or other specialized tools. The research reported below sought to supplement this work, focusing on a more routine assembly task that would be carried out in a home or in other community settings (e.g., long term care homes). The particular use case examined was assembly of exercise equipment, which is particularly relevant for older adults as they often get insufficient exercise, with adverse consequences for physical and cognitive health [14].
Application
The current work explores whether older adults benefit from VA-based assistance, by gathering initial requirements for use of VAs to provide assembly instructions. An exploratory qualitative field study with six older adults was conducted to derive design guidelines. We then propose a VA prototype named “Build2Race” that assists older adults to assemble an exercise equipment, “2RaceWithMe” (https://www.centivizer.com/2racewithme/), which was evaluated with a small convenience sample of young adults. The empirical findings, design guidelines, and prototype contributed by this work may be relevant to designers and researchers who are planning to use VAs for helping older people assemble products.
References
[1] Anderson-Hanley, C., Snyder, A. L., Nimon, J. P., & Arciero, P. J. (2011). Social facilitation in virtual reality-enhanced exercise: competitiveness moderates exercise effort of older adults. Clinical interventions in aging, 275-280.
[2] Awosoga, O. A., Odole, A. C., Onyeso, O. K., Doan, J., Nord, C., Nwosu, I. B., ... & Murphy, S. (2023). Well-being of professional older adults’ caregivers in Alberta’s assisted living and long-term care facilities: a cross-sectional study. BMC geriatrics, 23(1), 85.
[3] Bingol, M. C., & Aydogmus, O. (2020). Performing predefined tasks using the human–robot interaction on speech recognition for an industrial robot. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 95, 103903.
[4] Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. American Psychological Association.
[5] Bruun-Pedersen, J. R., Pedersen, K. S., Serafin, S., & Kofoed, L. B. (2014, March). Augmented exercise biking with virtual environments for elderly users: A preliminary study for retirement home physical therapy. In 2014 2nd Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Assistive Technology (VAAT) (pp. 23-27). IEEE.
[6] Bruun-Pedersen, J. R., Serafin, S., & Kofoed, L. B. (2016, October). Going outside while staying inside—exercise motivation with immersive vs. non–immersive recreational virtual environment augmentation for older adult nursing home residents. In 2016 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI) (pp. 216-226). IEEE.
[7] Caposecco, A., Hickson, L., & Meyer, C. (2011). Assembly and insertion of a self-fitting hearing aid: Design of effective instruction materials. Trends in Amplification, 15(4), 184-195.
[8] Barbosa, A. D. S., Silva, F. P., Crestani, L. R. D. S., & Otto, R. B. (2018). Virtual assistant to real time training on industrial environment. In Transdisciplinary Engineering Methods for Social Innovation of Industry 4.0 (pp. 33-42). IOS Press.
[9] Ehn, M., Johansson, A. C., & Revenäs, Å. (2019). Technology-based motivation support for seniors’ physical activity—A qualitative study on seniors’ and health care professionals’ views. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(13), 2418.
[10] Kowalski, J., Jaskulska, A., Skorupska, K., Abramczuk, K., Biele, C., Kopeć, W., & Marasek, K. (2019, May). Older adults and voice interaction: A pilot study with google home. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-6).
[11] Lee, L. N., Kim, M. J., & Hwang, W. J. (2019). Potential of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to promote wellbeing in older adults. Applied sciences, 9(17), 3556.
[12] Maksymova, S., Matarneh, R., Lyashenko, V., & Belova, N. (2017). Voice control for an industrial robot as a combination of various robotic assembly process models.
[13] McMullan, A., Kelly-Campbell, R. J., & Wise, K. (2018). Improving hearing aid self-efficacy and utility through revising a hearing aid user guide: A pilot study. American journal of audiology, 27(1), 45-56.
[14] Paterson, D. H., & Warburton, D. E. (2010). Physical activity and functional limitations in older adults: a systematic review related to Canada's Physical Activity Guidelines. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7, 1-22.
[15] Pradhan, A., Lazar, A., & Findlater, L. (2020). Use of intelligent voice assistants by older adults with low technology use. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 27(4), 1-27.
Voice assistants (VAs) may provide useful assembly instruction, but little work has explored their use with older adults for this purpose. In a qualitative field study with six older adults, requirements for assembly instruction and voice or VA technology design were gathered, leading to initial insights about component identification, verification, readability, sociability, and dialog content. Results from an ethnographic study with six older adults informed the design of a VA (“Build2Race”) to aid an older adult assembly task. A usability and feasibility evaluation of the VA was then carried out with three young adults to ensure that the VA provided good general user experience as a first step towards implementing the VA with older adults. The requirements and prototype design presented in this work should provide useful design guidance for researchers interested in assembly or instructional tasks for older adults.
Background
Many adults want to live independently in their homes as long as possible and in order to do so they should be able to conduct as many activities of daily living, and routine tasks as possible. While younger relatives or trades people can help, having the confidence and skill to perform relatively simple assembly tasks, makes older people more independent while also providing them with useful physical and cognitive exercise. Assembly tasks are required for a range of products designed for older adults, which are often packaged for sale in unassembled, including exercise equipment [1, 5] and medical devices [7, 13]. Exercise equipment, in particular, is challenging for older adults to set up [6] [9, p. 7] [11, p. 13], especially for those living independently without technical expertise. These products are also difficult to implement in eldercare settings due to high staff workloads. While specialized equipment can be shipped pre-assembled to organizations like long term care homes, this adds to shipping costs and the ultimate cost of the product [2]. For people with sufficient physical capacity, the main barrier to successful product assembly is knowledge of the steps required in the assembly process. While the steps can be written down in an assembly manual, it may be hard for people with visual disabilities to read the instructions and it is difficult to switch attention back and forth between focusing on the manual and focusing on the components that need to be assembled. Thus, voice assistants (VAs) should be useful in helping older adults to carry out manual assembly of products independently, since they act similarly to a helpful person who is talking to them and they allow the person doing the assembly to focus on the assembly materials. Doing the assembly themselves also helps people understand how a product works. The case for using VAs with older adults is also supported by results of previous research showing that older people perceive VAs more favourably than mobile phones or personal computers, with a voice interface being generally easier to use than interfaces that may require good visual ability and manual dexterity [10, 15]. Extensive literature has demonstrated the potential of VAs to effectively train and assist personnel or users who are not technical experts in performing manufacturing assembly (e.g., [3, 8, 12]). Past work on voice assistance in assembly tasks has focused on manufacturing assembly, where the person may be working with robots or other specialized tools. The research reported below sought to supplement this work, focusing on a more routine assembly task that would be carried out in a home or in other community settings (e.g., long term care homes). The particular use case examined was assembly of exercise equipment, which is particularly relevant for older adults as they often get insufficient exercise, with adverse consequences for physical and cognitive health [14].
Application
The current work explores whether older adults benefit from VA-based assistance, by gathering initial requirements for use of VAs to provide assembly instructions. An exploratory qualitative field study with six older adults was conducted to derive design guidelines. We then propose a VA prototype named “Build2Race” that assists older adults to assemble an exercise equipment, “2RaceWithMe” (https://www.centivizer.com/2racewithme/), which was evaluated with a small convenience sample of young adults. The empirical findings, design guidelines, and prototype contributed by this work may be relevant to designers and researchers who are planning to use VAs for helping older people assemble products.
References
[1] Anderson-Hanley, C., Snyder, A. L., Nimon, J. P., & Arciero, P. J. (2011). Social facilitation in virtual reality-enhanced exercise: competitiveness moderates exercise effort of older adults. Clinical interventions in aging, 275-280.
[2] Awosoga, O. A., Odole, A. C., Onyeso, O. K., Doan, J., Nord, C., Nwosu, I. B., ... & Murphy, S. (2023). Well-being of professional older adults’ caregivers in Alberta’s assisted living and long-term care facilities: a cross-sectional study. BMC geriatrics, 23(1), 85.
[3] Bingol, M. C., & Aydogmus, O. (2020). Performing predefined tasks using the human–robot interaction on speech recognition for an industrial robot. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 95, 103903.
[4] Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. American Psychological Association.
[5] Bruun-Pedersen, J. R., Pedersen, K. S., Serafin, S., & Kofoed, L. B. (2014, March). Augmented exercise biking with virtual environments for elderly users: A preliminary study for retirement home physical therapy. In 2014 2nd Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Assistive Technology (VAAT) (pp. 23-27). IEEE.
[6] Bruun-Pedersen, J. R., Serafin, S., & Kofoed, L. B. (2016, October). Going outside while staying inside—exercise motivation with immersive vs. non–immersive recreational virtual environment augmentation for older adult nursing home residents. In 2016 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI) (pp. 216-226). IEEE.
[7] Caposecco, A., Hickson, L., & Meyer, C. (2011). Assembly and insertion of a self-fitting hearing aid: Design of effective instruction materials. Trends in Amplification, 15(4), 184-195.
[8] Barbosa, A. D. S., Silva, F. P., Crestani, L. R. D. S., & Otto, R. B. (2018). Virtual assistant to real time training on industrial environment. In Transdisciplinary Engineering Methods for Social Innovation of Industry 4.0 (pp. 33-42). IOS Press.
[9] Ehn, M., Johansson, A. C., & Revenäs, Å. (2019). Technology-based motivation support for seniors’ physical activity—A qualitative study on seniors’ and health care professionals’ views. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(13), 2418.
[10] Kowalski, J., Jaskulska, A., Skorupska, K., Abramczuk, K., Biele, C., Kopeć, W., & Marasek, K. (2019, May). Older adults and voice interaction: A pilot study with google home. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-6).
[11] Lee, L. N., Kim, M. J., & Hwang, W. J. (2019). Potential of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to promote wellbeing in older adults. Applied sciences, 9(17), 3556.
[12] Maksymova, S., Matarneh, R., Lyashenko, V., & Belova, N. (2017). Voice control for an industrial robot as a combination of various robotic assembly process models.
[13] McMullan, A., Kelly-Campbell, R. J., & Wise, K. (2018). Improving hearing aid self-efficacy and utility through revising a hearing aid user guide: A pilot study. American journal of audiology, 27(1), 45-56.
[14] Paterson, D. H., & Warburton, D. E. (2010). Physical activity and functional limitations in older adults: a systematic review related to Canada's Physical Activity Guidelines. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7, 1-22.
[15] Pradhan, A., Lazar, A., & Findlater, L. (2020). Use of intelligent voice assistants by older adults with low technology use. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 27(4), 1-27.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeTuesday, April 14:45pm - 6:15pm EDT
LocationFrontenac Foyer