Acceptance of a minimal design of a human infant for facilitating affective interaction with older adults: A case study toward interactive doll therapy*

We introduce a minimal design approach to achieve a robot for interactive doll therapy. Our approach aims for positive interactions with older adults with dementia by just expressing the most basic elements of human-like features and relying on the user’s imagination to supplement the missing information. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with abstract body representation and without face. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhance human-like features of the robot and then facilitate emotional interaction between older people and the robot. A field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination.