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the transmission of vital parameters to the doctor should be supported. All these sug-
gestions for technical improvements are currently inspiring the future modifications of
the G
IRAFF
system in line with the user centered approach pursued in the project.
Older Adults as End-Users
Participants and Procedure.
To investigate aspects connected to the end-user inter-
action with the telepresence system we contacted 10 older adults. Four of them were
potential end users who have been asked to participate in the long-term evaluation de-
scribed later in this paper. The remaining participants are involved in a parallel study,
also connected to the project that aims to validate the G
IRAFF
system as a tool for
providing remote rehabilitation [9].
The procedure followed in this qualitative research entailed an explanation of the
main idea underlying the telepresence system, showing some descriptive materials, a
video of the system and, where possible, a practical demonstration of the system it-
self. The selection of the material and the modality to present the system were decided
according to the time availability, and the specific situation presented in each evalua-
tion session. Overall, we here opted for a qualitative analysis given the relatively small
number of the sample.
Results.
A qualitative analysis of the interview have been conducted and the most
relevant feedbacks are here reported in terms of positive and negative aspects of the
robotic system.
Positive Aspects.
Among the positive aspects most of the subjects reported the follow-
ing: participants judged the visit through G
IRAFF
as engaging and “real”; the robot was
pleasant to see; the ability of the robot to move in the environment was positively as-
sessed; users felt physically involved during the interaction; participants think that the
robot would help someone living alone at home to feel safer; participants judged pos-
itively both the audio and the video functionalities; participants think that interaction
through the robot was spontaneous.
Negative Aspects.
Among the most negative aspects we mention: the G
IRAFF
system
is too big and consequently may not be well integrated in a domestic environment due
to its size; the battery power may be too short; there may be some problems due to the
privacy issue; there were some concerns related to the safe movement of the robot and
to its ability of obstacle avoidance; some “intelligent features”, like the autonomous
recharging of the battery, are missing; the connection to the docking station is not very
intuitive.
Also this effort showed an overall positive reaction to the system, even though some
improvements are desired in view of a real usage of the system. It is worth underscoring
how the key point here is the fact that qualitative data has been gathered by interviewing
“real potential users” like for example a group of caregivers and old people that can
receive visits through the robot.
