Table 1. Summary of background research and open questions.

Summary of background	Open questions
Age-related challenges
For independence and wellbeing, individuals must be able to perform self maintenance, instrumental, and enhanced activities of daily living Age-related declines in physical, perceptual, and cognitive abilities challenge older adults' independence and wellbeing Facilities and caregivers cannot keep pace with growth of the older adult population who would require assistance	How can robots assist older adults with the challenges of aging?
Robot acceptance
Evidence from Domestic Robot Ecology (DRE) model suggests that the physical and social space, social actors, and tasks influence the dynamic relationships between domestic robots and people over time Evidence from Almere model suggests that attitudes and perceptions are important for older adults' intention to use an assistive social agent	What influences acceptance of robots that perform a variety of tasks? What influences acceptance of mobile manipulators? Does DRE generalize to older adults? Does DRE generalize to robots other than the Roomba? Do user characteristics or context (e.g., task) influence factors the Almere Model identified as influencing acceptance of robots?
Tasks for robot assistance
Robots should match a person's needs and abilities Older adults were open to a robot monitoring (e.g., detecting falls) or performing service tasks (e.g., housework, lifting heavy objects) Older adults were less open to robots performing non-essential tasks requiring more interaction (e.g., conversations)	Does context influence older adult acceptance of robots? What tasks do older adults want assistance with from mobile manipulators? Would older adults prefer assistance from a robot over a human? If so, for what tasks? What actions do older adults want robots to perform with what household objects?