{"210041":{"#nid":"210041","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How Would You Like Your Assistant - Human or Robotic?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERoboticists are currently developing machines that have the potential to help patients with caregiving tasks, such as housework, feeding and walking. But before they reach the care recipients, assistive robots will first have to be accepted by healthcare providers such as nurses and nursing assistants. Based on a Georgia Institute of Technology study, it appears that they may be welcomed with open arms depending on the tasks at hand.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore than half of healthcare providers interviewed said that if they were offered an assistant, they preferred it to be a robotic helper rather than a human. However, they don\u2019t want robots to help with everything. They were very particular about what they wanted a robot to do, and not do. Instrumental activities of daily living (IDALs), such as helping with housework and reminding patients when to take medication, were acceptable. But activities daily living (ADL) tasks, especially those involving direct, physical interactions such as bathing, getting dressed and feeding people, were considered better for human assistants.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe findings will be presented April 27- May 2 at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chi2013.acm.org\/\u0022\u003EACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems\u003C\/a\u003E in Paris, France.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne open question was whether healthcare providers would reject the idea of robotic assistants out of fear that the robots would replace them in the workplace,\u201d said Tracy Mitzner, one of the study\u2019s leaders and the associate director of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hfaging.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHuman Factors and Aging Laboratory\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t appear to be a significant concern. In fact, the professional caregivers we interviewed viewed robots as a way to improve their jobs and the care they\u2019re able to give patients.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, nurses preferred a robot assistant that could help them lift patients from a bed to a chair. \u0026nbsp;They also indicated that robotic assistants could be helpful with some medical tasks such as checking vitals. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cRobots aren\u2019t being designed to eliminate people. Instead, they can help reduce physical demands and workloads,\u201d Mitzner said. \u201cHopefully, our study helps create guidelines for developers and facilitates deployment into the healthcare industry. It doesn\u2019t make sense to build robots that won\u2019t be accepted by the end user.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis study complements the lab\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/release.html?nid=165041\u0022\u003Eprior research\u003C\/a\u003E that found older people are generally willing to accept help from robots. Much like the current research, their preferences depended on the task. Participants said they preferred robotic help over human help for chores such as cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry. Getting dressed and suggesting medication were tasks viewed as better suited for human assistants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo view research by other Georgia Tech faculty members at SIGCHI, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBased on a Georgia Institute of Technology study, it appears that the healthcare providers will welcome robots into the workplace. y may be welcomed with open arms depending on the tasks at hand.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Healthcare providers indicate, if given a choice, they would prefer a robotic assistant rather than a human."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2013-04-29 10:19:22","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:08","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"210011":{"id":"210011","type":"image","title":"Healthcare Providers and Robots","body":null,"created":"1449180018","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:00:18","changed":"1475894869","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:49","alt":"Healthcare Providers and Robots","file":{"fid":"196864","name":"medication_handoff.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medication_handoff_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medication_handoff_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2280272,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/medication_handoff_0.jpg?itok=l94PjZfv"}}},"media_ids":["210011"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/hfaging.gatech.edu\/","title":"Human Factors and Aging Lab"},{"url":"http:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech at SIGCHI"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"2352","name":"robots"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}