In the present research, we prepared a human-size humanoid that autonomously navigates alongside with a walking person. Its utterances were controlled by Wizard-of-Oz method. A field experiment in which older persons walked in an elder care facility together with the robot while it talked to them was conducted to investigate the effects of robot accompaniment on older people requiring health care support in terms of increasing their motivation to engage in physical exercise. The participants (N = 23) were residents in the facility or persons with health problems who had been receiving day care at the facility. The experimental results suggested that (1) the participants enjoyed walking with the robot more than walking alone, (2) the physical burden did not differ between walking styles, and (3) walking with the robot evoked the participants’ perception of novelty or stimulated an existing interest in assistive robotics, both leading to positive feelings.

在当前的研究中，我们准备了一个与人类大小相似的类人动物，该类人动物可以与步行者一起自主导航。它的话语是通过绿野仙踪法控制的。进行了一项现场实验，在该实验中，老年人与机器人交谈时与机器人一起走在养老机构中，以研究机器人陪伴对需要医疗支持的老年人的影响，以增加他们进行体育锻炼的动机。参加者（N = 23）是该设施中的居民或有健康问题的人正在该设施接受日托的。实验结果表明：（1）参与者比单独走路更喜欢与机器人一起走路；（2）步行方式之间的身体负担没有差异；（3）带着机器人走路引起了参与者对新颖性的感知或刺激对辅助机器人技术的既有兴趣，两者都会带来积极的感觉。