Characteristics of older adults that predict performance in building robotic kits

Abstract

Background: Robotic kits are a popular, modern pastime primarily marketed and designed for younger generations. Kits designed for use by older adults have the potential to promote cognitive, physical, and social engagement.Objective: This study sought to determine characteristics and abilities of older adults that predicted efficiency, perceived usability, and engagement in building a market-available kit. Methods: Fifty-nine adults, 25 males, and 34 females, ages 55 to 87 (M = 70.80, SD = 8.44) completed a series of assessments for spatial visualization, visual abilities, working memory, and dexterity before assembling a robot kit. Results: Backwards regression was utilized to create significant prediction models for five outcome variables: time on task, perceived system usability, task engagement, distress (i.e. negative affect), and worry (i.e. self-focused attention). Conclusion:Results indicated that younger individuals and those with higher spatial visualization ability completed the build faster and perceived the kit to be more usable. Dexterity in the non-dominant hand also predicted faster build times. The findings of this study can be used to inform gerontechnological designs of assembly kits. Future studies can examine if the important factors identified here are predictive of performance in building more complex robotic kits.