Robots are increasingly becoming an important part of older people’s lives as they bring many benefits. However, it is not clear in current research whether older people’s attitudes toward robots are influenced by the robot type. What are the general attitudes of older people toward personal robots and what are the relationships between older people’s general attitudes to robots and attitudes to particular personal robot types? This study recruited 126 older people over the age of 65 from the UK and asked them to watch videos of three different robot types (pet robot, humanoid robot, tabletop robot). They answered the Almere model about each robot type and the Negative Attitude Scale towards Robots (NARS) and Robot Anxiety Scale (RAS) about their general attitudes toward personal robots. The results found that participants expressed more positive attitudes and pleasurable feelings towards the humanoid and tabletop robots than pet robots, and found them more useful and convenient. Principal components analysis showed that participants’ general attitudes towards personal robots related to anxiety about interacting with personal robots, comfort with personal robots, and anxiety about conversing with robots, and anxiety about the influence of robots in society. Comfort with robots was the best predictor of attitudes to the three personal robots types. In conclusion, pet robots, humanoid robots, and tabletop robots are still new to older people, and they are not widely used in their lives yet, but this study showed that they have a positive attitude toward these types of robots, especially for humanoid robots and tabletop robots, which they are willing to use in their lives.
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