Deployment of a Socially Assistive Robot for Assessment of COVID-19 Symptoms and Exposure at an Elder Care Setting

This work investigates the deployment of an affordable socially assistive robot (SAR) at an older adult day care setting for the screening of COVID-19 symptoms and exposure. Despite the focus on older adults, other stakeholders (clinicians and caregivers) were included in the study due to the need for daily COVID-19 screening. The investigation considered which aspects of human-robot-interaction (HRI) are relevant when designing social agents for patient screening. The implementation was based upon the current screening procedure adopted by the deployment facility, and translated into robot dialogues and gesturing motion. Post-interaction surveys with participants informed their preferences for the type of interaction and system usability. Observer surveys evaluated users’ reaction, verbal and physical engagement. Results indicated general acceptance of the social agent and possible improvements to the current version of the robot to encourage a broader adoption by the stakeholders.