SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2025.1626471
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Impact of Robotic Technologies on Customer Experience and AdoptionView all 4 articles
Exploring Fear in Human-Robot Interactions: A Scoping Review of Older Adults' Experiences with Social Robots
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
- 2Mada Centre, Doha, Qatar
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As global populations age, healthcare and social systems face mounting pressure to provide effective support for older adults. Social robots have emerged as promising tools to enhance companionship, cognitive engagement, and daily assistance, yet fear of robots among older adults remains a critical barrier to adoption. This scoping review examines how fear manifests in human‑robot interactions (HRI), what factors contribute to these reactions, and how they influence technology acceptance. A systematic search of six major databases (PubMed, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) identified studies published between January 2014 and March 2025. Following PRISMA‑ScR guidelines, 49 studies were included, encompassing 6,670 older participants across 16 countries. Thematic synthesis revealed seven main fear categories: privacy and autonomy concerns, trust and reliability issues, emotional and ethical discomfort, usability challenges, fear of dependence, unfamiliarity with technology, and the Uncanny Valley effect. Fear levels were shaped by robot design, cultural background, prior technology experience, and contextual factors such as care settings. Mitigation strategies, including co‑design with older adults, gradual exposure, transparent system behavior, and emotionally congruent interaction, were associated with improved acceptance. This review uniquely maps fear typologies to robot functions and intervention strategies, offering a framework to guide emotionally adaptive and culturally sensitive robot design. Addressing emotional barriers is essential for the ethical and effective integration of social robots into eldercare. Future research should prioritize longitudinal, cross‑cultural studies and standardized fear measurement tools to advance evidence‑based HRI implementation.
Keywords: older adults, humanoid robots, types of fear, human-robot interaction, Scoping review, PRISMA-ScR
Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Elsheikh, Al-Thani and Othman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ahmed Elsheikh, ahel43564@hbku.edu.qa
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