HOMIE: an artificial companion for elderly people

In this paper we present "Homie" an artificial companion for elderly people. Our approach emphasizes amusement and benefit - amusement in form of entertainment and benefit in terms of medical care. The key to awake elderly people's emotional engagement in an artificial companion is its emotional behavior. Therefore, we propose a companion that does not look technical, which is mostly associated with the words cold and impersonal. Furthermore it features facial expression and gesture. An important design aspect was that it is no additional burden for elderly people. Engaging with it is free and fun. Author Keywords Artificial companionship, elderly people, emotion, relationship, entertainment, medical care. ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Simone Kriglstein, Gunter Wallner
• Keywords: Artificial Companion, CHI 2005, Elderly People, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords Artificial Companionship