Domestic Assistive Robots’ Approach in Daily Living Activities for Older Adults

Domestic assistive robots can support older adults with daily tasks such as medication delivery, but these interactions require robots to approach users within personal home spaces. Although, human-robot proxemics research shows that robot distance, speed, and movement direction affect user comfort, limited work has examined how older adults interpret these behaviors during domestic assistive handoff tasks. This study explored how six older adults perceived mobile robot manipulator notification style during a simulated medication delivery task in a home-like environment. Four scenarios varied by approach direction and verbal notification strategy, with attention to comfort, trust, and acceptance. Participants generally preferred an arm’s length interaction distance and described it as the most comfortable zone for medication handoff. Trust increased after repeated interaction across the scenarios. Findings suggest that domestic assistive robots should use predictable notification cues, maintain comfortable handoff distances, and allow adjustable speed and approach behaviors to support comfort, acceptance, and trust.