Subjective Evaluations of Motion Area and Velocity Characteristics of Dual Manipulator in Young and Elderly People

In this study, we conducted a subjective evaluation experiment of a dual manipulator, which exhibits different motion characteristics. There are three motion characteristics: two of which are age-related, and the third is a robot motion characteristic and is newly added to these two motions. The motions are evaluated from motion areas and motion velocities. Subjects are elderly and young people, and the impressions of the motions are compared in two of the different age groups by the Semantic Differential (SD) method. The obtained results indicate that there are age differences in the evaluation of three manipulator motion areas. The elderly people show a higher reliability and a higher familiarity in a robot motion area than in the other two motions. The elderly people seem to be more affected by the manipulator motion than the young people. Therefore, a careful consideration is required when planning the motion of a manipulator for elderly people.