How Older Adults Integrate Smart and Robotic Technologies into the Daily Lives

This paper explores the integration of smart and robotic technologies into the daily lives of older adults, alongside an examination of digital technologies. We conducted a study involving first-year students from the University of Udine, who interviewed 344 older adults, including their grandparents, great-uncles, neighbors, or family friends. The interviews addressed the ownership of these technologies, patterns of usage, and whether they contribute to alleviating loneliness and simplifying the lives of older adults. Additionally, we explored their preferences regarding technology they would like to possess, cannot do without, and wish to learn to use. Finally, we examined how they perceive their relationship with these technologies and their level of comfort in using them. Our research questions were as follows: Do these respondents exhibit similar attitudes toward smart and robotic technologies as older individuals did toward digital technologies? Do different age groups within the older population (young-old, ages 65–74; old-old, 75–84; and oldest-old, 85–99) experience specific relationships with these technologies? Do older women lag behind men in adopting smart and robotic technologies, as they did with digital technologies? Our findings reveal that: (1) Older adults generally express a dissonance towards smart and robotic technologies similar to what they felt and continue to feel towards digital technologies; (2) Young-old respondents (65–74) are quite engaged with these technologies, while the oldest-old interact significantly less with them compared to their younger counterparts. The old-old stand in balance between the two, in some cases being no different from the young-old and in others no different from the oldest-old; (3) Older women experience significantly more difficulties with these technologies compared to men.