Learned lessons on Socially Assistive Robot design in Elderly Care: proposal and insights of a Collaborative Design Framework

Purpose: This paper proposes a co-design framework and evaluates its practical application during a project involving robot deployment in a retirement home.Methods: The study details the hybrid methodology used during a 19-week Socially Assistive Robot deployment involving 17 older adults and 3 professionals in a Spanish retirement home. Robot performance was evaluated via the AUSUS framework, prioritizing techniques designed to minimize participant fatigue.Results: While participants reported high perceived utility, the deployment revealed two distinct obstacles. First, low technical efficacy was primarily driven by inherent unpredictability and daily incidents of a real-world environment, which negatively cascaded into the overall user experience. Second, the study exposed the inherent limitations of traditional User-Centered Design practices, particularly the challenge of defining and sustaining active participant engagement within complex, shared care ecosystems. Conclusion: Driven by the lessons learned from the CAMPERO project, the paper underscores the necessity for contextual pre-assessments, active participant empowerment, and pragmatic evaluation scoping. Ultimately, these insights provide a critical foundation for future methodological advancements, ensuring SAR deployments are genuinely collaborative, needs-driven, methodologically responsible and integrated without disrupting the care ecosystem.