The first major proof of concept of the CMU Portugal project “ShiftHRI – Exploring the Transfer of Agency to Older Adults” was published in the International Journal of Social Robotics, which has an impact factor of 5.77 as of 2023 and ranks in the Q1 quartile for the Robotics category​ (JCR)​. In this paper titled “I Want to Send a Message to My Friend: Exploring the Shift of Agency to Older Adults in HRI,” a team of researchers, including LASIGE’s integrated members Hugo Simão, David Gonçalves and Tiago Guerreiro, developed a system of tangible blocks that allows older adults to control a robot to operationalize their intentions. This interaction empowered 22 older adults to use the robot as an extension of their goals and values. The study revealed promising prospects for enhancing older adults’ agency and personalized interaction in human-robot interaction based on their values, offering significant potential for improving social connections and engagement among older adults in care homes.

The paper is available here.