Abstract
We developed the robot Babyloid for the purpose of lowering psychological distress in elderly people and people requiring nursing care. Babyloid is not an all-purpose utility robot and cannot do anything except express physiological and psychological states for its self-sufficiency, including by whimpering and by becoming grumpy. By interacting with Babyloid's expressions of self-sufficiency, elderly users can improve their mental condition by building a trusting relationship with the robot. In this study, we offered the robot Babyloid, which like a baby cannot do anything, to elderly subjects in a nursing home and examined their behavior as they lived together with Babyloid for two months. As a result, we suggested that elderly who do not go out much have a deep emotional attachment to it, but active elderly does not necessarily require the robot.
