Development of an Intelligent Dialogue Agent with Smart Devices for Older Adults: A Preliminary Study

This study aimed to examine the application of an Intelligent Dialogue Agent (IDA) in preventive care frameworks for healthy older adults. Introducing the agent increases familiarity with the frameworks, encourages performance of preventive care exercises, and helps older adults turn using the frameworks into a habit. We used a questionnaire to collect data on older adults' impressions of Information Technology (IT) devices, smart speakers in particular (main components of the IDA), and interviewed the participants after they actually used the smart speaker in order to discuss required functions and expected roles in developing the IDA. Results from the questionnaire and interview revealed promising characteristics of smart speakers and problems concerning Japanese speech recognition.