Acceptance and usability of a relational agent interface by urban older adults

This study examines the acceptance and usability of an animated conversational agent designed to establish long-term relationships with older, mostly minority adult users living in urban neighborhoods. The agent plays the role of an exercise advisor who interacts with subjects daily for two months on a touch-screen computer installed in their homes for the study. Survey results indicate the eight subjects who completed the pilot study (aged 62-82) found the agent very easy to interact with, even though most of them had little or no previous experience using computers. Most subjects also indicated strong liking for and trust in the agent, felt that their relationship with the agent was more similar to a close friend than a stranger, and expressed a strong desire to continue working with the agent at the end of the study. These results were also confirmed through qualitative analysis of post-experiment debrief transcripts.