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Comprehensive Evaluation of an Intelligent Feeding Robot for the Elderly: Effectiveness, Safety, and Human-Robot Interaction

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Comprehensive Evaluation of an Intelligent Feeding Robot for the Elderly: Effectiveness, Safety, and Human-Robot Interaction

Fangting Chen 1,2,3,† Haozhi Zhao 1,2,3,† Jianlin Ou 4 Yuehua Huang 5 Diansheng Chen 6 Yafei Wang 1,2,3 Lijuan Li 1,2,3 Yangyang Lin 1,2,3,* Yuling Wang 1,2,3,*

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1
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China
2
Biomedical Innovation Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China
3
Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Rehabilitation Medicine, Guangzhou 510000, China
4
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510000, China
5
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
6
Robotics Institute, Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Fangting Chen and Haozhi Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Received: 06 May 2026 Revised: 10 June 2026 Accepted: 23 July 2026 Published: 06 August 2026

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© 2026 The authors. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Intell. Rehabil. Eng. 2026, 1(1), 10007; DOI: 10.70322/ire.2026.10007
ABSTRACT: To address the growing demand for assisted feeding in aging societies, our team developed an intelligent feeding robot named “Xiao Xi”. This robot integrates multimodal interaction (voice control, handheld button, foot pedal, and mechanical button), deep learning-based food recognition and mouth positioning, and a novel spoon-chopstick integrated mechanism capable of handling both solid and semi-solid foods. To systematically evaluate its clinical value, we enrolled 40 healthy elderly participants in a randomized crossover trial, comparing a robot-assisted feeding session (RFS) with a human-assisted feeding session (HFS). Outcome measures included food intake percentage, successful feeding percentage, average feeding duration, QUEST 2.0 satisfaction score, and safety outcomes. RFS showed a lower food intake percentage than HFS (adjusted mean difference = −33.90%, 95% CI: −35.57 to −32.23, p < 0.001) and required a longer average feeding duration (adjusted mean difference = 2.78 s, 95% CI: 2.35 to 3.21, p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed in the successful feeding percentage or QUEST 2.0 satisfaction score. No adverse events occurred during either feeding condition. These findings suggest that “Xiao Xi” is safe and acceptable for healthy elderly users, but its feeding efficiency remains lower than HFS. Further optimization and validation in elderly individuals with real feeding assistance needs are required.
Keywords: Intelligent feeding robot; Multimodal interaction; Randomized crossover trial; Assistive technology; Evaluation; Elderly
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