**1. Introduction**

Dementia is a progressive neurological syndrome that causes cognitive degeneration, memory loss, alterations in personality and mood, difficulty performing everyday tasks and communication challenges [1]. As more people live into old age it is anticipated that worldwide, dementia will affect 66 million people by 2030 and 115 million by 2050 [2].

Social robots are artificial intelligence systems that are equipped with social and communicative abilities [3]. They differ from other robots as they are designed to interact using the social rules of human behaviour [4]. Technologies have been identified as key enablers for policies that aim to support aging in place and the sustainability of welfare states [5]. Currently, social robots are being designed to support the resilience [6] and independence of people with dementia and older adults (OA). They are also being developed to supplement the care that people with dementia receive from human caregivers, as diversion therapy and entertainment [7], to reduce loneliness [8], and to perform cognitive screening tests [9].

Some OA and people with dementia positively evaluate using robots [6, 8, 10]. But a recent review involving n = 90 research studies found that the deployment of current assistive robots into healthcare practice is low [11]. Technology acceptance is an important predictor of the usage and adoption of technology [12].

Acceptance has been defined as the robot being willingly incorporated into the older person's life [13]. Robot acceptance is impacted by multiple interacting factors, that concern the individual, significant others, and wider society [14]. But the factors that impact robot acceptability need to be understood in more depth because individual people and groups greatly differ regarding how acceptable they find robots [15, 16]. A recent literature review that included studies investigating robots (n = 4) found there was low acceptance of robotic technologies amongst OA and people with cognitive impairment and their caregivers [17]. Korblet [18] also found that the acceptance of a mobile telepresence robot in a nursing home setting was lower in people with dementia (n = 5) than in people who visited the nursing home centre weekly (n = 3) and a third who had physical disabilities (n = 3).

This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art regarding technology acceptance theory and the empirical research on robot acceptance that involves OA and people with dementia. It also examines what is likely to increase the acceptability of robots in this context. The chapter proceeds in the following sequence. Firstly, the definition of robot acceptability is discussed and phases in technology acceptance are introduced in relation to robots as a new technology genre. It is highlighted that social robots have different features in comparison to traditional technologies. These differences affect their acceptance and how acceptance needs to be conceptualised and investigated in practice. Secondly, examples of models of technology acceptance are presented and discussed in relation to their adequacy to explain and predict the acceptance of robots in the concept of OA and people with dementia. Then, empirical research is described that has examined the acceptance factors that are important for OA and people with dementia. The final section of the chapter focuses on what is likely to increase the acceptability of robots for OA and people with dementia and recommendations are made for the future design, development, and deployment of social robots. This final section introduces the concept of collaborative robots and it draws on research findings and literature that describes current discourses in gerontology and policy recommendations.
