An independent study led by Prof. Feliciano Villar (University of Barcelona) and Dr. Rumen Manolov (University of Barcelona / Maastricht University) is now available as a preprint on PsyArXiv (OSF).

The study followed 17 community-dwelling older adults living alone in the Barcelona area, aged 63 to 95, who had AiMA’s embodied conversational agent installed in their homes for 15 days. Combining interaction data with post-study interviews, the researchers found that conversations most often began with a neutral emotional tone and ended in joy, and that participants described AiMA chiefly as companionship, non-judgmental conversation and an outlet for sharing personal memories. All participants said they would recommend it to someone in a similar situation.

Participants also pointed to areas for improvement, including more conversational initiative and better adaptation to individual needs. The study frames AiMA as a complement to human relationships and care, not a replacement, and discloses AiMA’s funding role transparently.