Robotic Backchanneling in Online Conversation Facilitation: A Cross-Generational Study
This addresses the challenge of enhancing social robot compatibility with older adults in Japan's aging society, though it is incremental as it builds on existing backchannelling methods.
The study tackled the problem of improving robot-assisted group conversations for cognitive decline prevention by implementing backchannelling, finding that it increased perceived kindness and trustworthiness in younger adults and elicited nonverbal responses in older adults.
Japan faces many challenges related to its aging society, including increasing rates of cognitive decline in the population and a shortage of caregivers. Efforts have begun to explore solutions using artificial intelligence (AI), especially socially embodied intelligent agents and robots that can communicate with people. Yet, there has been little research on the compatibility of these agents with older adults in various everyday situations. To this end, we conducted a user study to evaluate a robot that functions as a facilitator for a group conversation protocol designed to prevent cognitive decline. We modified the robot to use backchannelling, a natural human way of speaking, to increase receptiveness of the robot and enjoyment of the group conversation experience. We conducted a cross-generational study with young adults and older adults. Qualitative analyses indicated that younger adults perceived the backchannelling version of the robot as kinder, more trustworthy, and more acceptable than the non-backchannelling robot. Finally, we found that the robot's backchannelling elicited nonverbal backchanneling in older participants.