Most countries are ageing rapidly, creating significant challenges in providing adequate care to elderly population. Older adults’ care centers face several difficulties in ensuring support able to address their diverse needs, due to several factors including increasing caregiver shortages, high variability in cognitive and health conditions of elderly, and challenges in delivering personalized interventions to them. Additionally, maintaining elderly engagement during cognitive training is often problematic due to the repetitive and impersonal nature of involved tasks. To address these limitations, we carried out a study investigating the use of a humanoid robot to deliver interactive, personalised serious games based on older adults' personal memories, to enhance relevance and engagement for them. The approach has been evaluated in a trial conducted in a center for older adults, involving users with varying cognitive abilities. Results indicated that such personalised games were well received by them, with a positive impact on their experience.

The use of humanoid robots in older adult training has recently started to be considered. We investigated a solution that offers serious games personalised to each individual, to stimulate more interest and participation in cognitive training. In particular, we have studied how to consider personal memories in customising humanoid robot games for Mild Cognitive Impaired (MCI) older adults. For this goal, a prototype platform for collecting and exploiting personal memories in associated games is presented. The memories are exploited by six games designed and implemented in a Pepper robot considering current practices. We report on a mixed-method study consisting of a two-phase trial that involved 15 MCI older adults. The participants first furnished some memories from their past, and then used two game versions regularly for twelve weeks, one personalised and one with general content. We collected both quantitative (through questionnaires and interaction log analysis) and qualitative feedback. The results provide useful information about the robot games’ impact on users and, more generally, for understanding how to introduce robot games based on personal memories in cognitive training programmes.

The "Robots for Humans" (RfH) workshop bridges the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) communities. The workshop encourages methodological exchange and explores theoretical, technical and design solutions in robotics. Join us to explore the intricate bond between humans and robots for thoughtful HRI advancements.

In this paper, we present the design and the implementation of a cooking game for older adults interacting through a humanoid robot. We discuss the motivations and the requirements that have driven such design and indicate how it has been implemented. The main goal is to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults in order to limit their decline. For this purpose, we have exploited the multimodal possibilities of the humanoid robot and have identified two robot personalities, which are suitable to improve users' engagement, and thus their potential participation in cognitive training programmes.