Abstract
Although problems of older adults to use new artifacts have been attributed mainly to cognitive and perceptual/ motor aging, there are also emotional aspects of aging, e.g., “timid to use”, affecting to use new artifacts. To know about this “timidity”, we investigated effects of “external risks” on usage of artifacts with young and older adults. Participant operated a biped walking robot (height 25cm) and to get through the path on the table of 70cm high. On the risky condition, the instruction to be careful was added, and the path was set at the edge of the table, while the path was set at the center of the table with the control condition. The results indicated that external risks made both age groups to behave circumspectly, indicating independence of external risks and timidity. On the contrary, the hazardous dropping of the robot showed strong impacts only on behavior of older adults.
