Advancing the Development of Intelligent Wearable Robots for Elderly Assistance: An Innovative User-Centric Co-Creation (UC3) Framework

Abstract

<h4>Sarcopenia is an involuntary loss of muscle mass along with age, bringing pressure and challenges to older adults who demand independence. Wearable robots are promising solutions to address the adversities brought by sarcopenia. Using an innovative User-Centric Co-Creation (UC3) Framework, we conducted an iterative, transdisciplinary, multistage study in Hong Kong, to develop intelligent wearable robots to assist older adults in performing daily living tasks. A multimethod approach combining participatory workshops, quantitative assessments, and laboratory experiments was adopted. A total of 16 participants joined six sessions of participatory workshops to provide user requirements. 91 healthy older adults joined an experiment to provide reference data, and 55 older adults with sarcopenia potential joined an experiment to provide user data. User requirements provide insights for robotic design, reference group data informed the robotic team on system design, and user experiments in turn provided evidence for the robotic group to further improve robotic systems and identify outcome indicators at three levels, including physiological level, functional level, and behavioral level. Following the UC3 Framework, we involved users as equal partners in the development process and collected insightful data to develop wearable robots in iterative cycles.</h4>