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Project VIRGO: creation of a surrogate companion for the elderly

Published: 02 April 2005 Publication History

Abstract

The Voice Intelligent Reciprocating Gemutlich Orator (VIRGO) was developed from perceptions of companionship held by persons 65 years of age and older. The knowledge gained from ethnographic interaction with segments of the target population was applied toward the creation of a device. VIRGO is expected to fulfill various companionship needs derived from user-centered research, expert advice and those of the sponsor.A brief review of the data collected is provided and implications toward the operationalization of various features of companionship are described. Important findings of the data include the need for activity to continue as a matter of over all health and as a management tool for recovery from a loss. The importance of continued learning and physical activity is also indicated as a means of maintaining wellbeing. A brief analysis of the findings from design testing and their implications for redesign is also described.

References

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Mival, O., Cringean, S., and Benyon D. Personification Technologies: Developing Artificial Companions for Older People, ACM Press (2004), 1--8.
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Marquie, J.C., Jourdan-Boddart, L. and Huet, N. Do older adults underestimate their actual computer knowledge? Behavior & Information Technology 21, 4 (2002), 273--280.
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Shriver, S., Toth, A., Zhu, X., Rudnicky, A. Rosenfeld, R. A Unified Design for Human-Machine Voice Interaction. CHI 2001 Short Talks (2001) 247--248.
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Fuller, G., Falls in the Elderly. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000401/2159.html
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Weuve, J., Kang, J., Manson, J.E., Breteler, M.B., Ware, J.H., and Grodstein, F. Physical Activity Including Walking, and Cognitive Function in Older Women. Journal of the American Medical Assn. 292, 12 US (2004), 1454--1461.
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Cited By

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  • (2013)A kind of snoezelen - requirements for a therapeutic robot for older adults with dementia according to caregivers2013 IEEE RO-MAN10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628391(680-684)Online publication date: Aug-2013
  • (2013)Factors facilitating or impeding older adults' creative contributions in the collaborative design of a novel DTV-based applicationUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-011-0262-812:1(5-19)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2013
  • (2013)Exploring Requirements and Alternative Pet Robots for Robot Assisted Therapy with Older Adults with DementiaProceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social Robotics - Volume 823910.1007/978-3-319-02675-6_11(104-115)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2013

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  1. Project VIRGO: creation of a surrogate companion for the elderly

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI EA '05: CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    April 2005
    1358 pages
    ISBN:1595930027
    DOI:10.1145/1056808
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 02 April 2005

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    Author Tags

    1. VIRGO
    2. companionship
    3. elderly
    4. loss
    5. surrogate companion
    6. voice activated

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    View all
    • (2013)A kind of snoezelen - requirements for a therapeutic robot for older adults with dementia according to caregivers2013 IEEE RO-MAN10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628391(680-684)Online publication date: Aug-2013
    • (2013)Factors facilitating or impeding older adults' creative contributions in the collaborative design of a novel DTV-based applicationUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-011-0262-812:1(5-19)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2013
    • (2013)Exploring Requirements and Alternative Pet Robots for Robot Assisted Therapy with Older Adults with DementiaProceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social Robotics - Volume 823910.1007/978-3-319-02675-6_11(104-115)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2013

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