Acceptance of an Animaloid Robot as a Starting Point for Cognitive Stimulators supporting Elders with Cognitive Impairments

We focus on some preliminary, theoretical and practical, requirements for an agent-based system for cognitive interaction with older people. We describe in some detail a preliminary study aimed at assessing the acceptability of interaction of cognitively impaired elders with an artificial companion by studying their reactive behaviour during a simple experimental session. First results show that affective aspects of interaction with an artificial companion are not affected by negative feelings towards technology, but that positive attitudes are required in order to achieve awareness of its usefulness for a cognitive interaction. We stress the convenience of considering acceptance as a multifaceted attitude, to develop a method for the development of a working cognitive interaction system. The agent should build its user model - including relevant knowledge, expectations, and goals - by interactive learning, and operate jointly with a situation awareness engine.