Externalising moods and psychological states in a cloud based system to enhance a pet-robot and child’s interaction

Background:This PATRICIA research project is about using pet robots to reduce pain and anxiety in hospitalized children. The study began 2 years ago and it is believed that the advances made in this project are significant. Patients, parents, nurses, psycholo- gists, and engineers have adopted the Pleo robot, a baby dinosaur robotic pet, which works in different ways to assist children during hospitalization. Methods: Focus is spent on creating a wireless communication system with the Pleo in order to help the coordinator, who conducts therapy with the child, monitor, under- stand, and control Pleo’s behavior at any moment. This article reports how this techno- logical function is being developed and tested. Results: Wireless communication between the Pleo and an Android device is achieved. The developed Android app allows the user to obtain any state of the robot without stopping its interaction with the patient. Moreover, information is sent to a cloud, so that robot moods, states and interactions can be shared among different robots. Conclusions: Pleo attachment was successful for more than 1 month, working with children in therapy, which makes the investment capable of positive therapeutic possibilities. This technical improvement in the Pleo addresses two key issues in social robotics: needing an enhanced response to maintain the attention and engagement of the child, and using the system as a platform to collect the states of the child’s progress for clinical purposes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A Cloud robotics architecture to foster individual child partnership in medical facilities

Robots and automation systems have become a valuable partner in several facets of human life: from learning and teaching, to daily working, including health monitoring and assistance. So far, these appealing robot-based applications are restricted to conduct repetitive, yet useful, tasks due to the reduced individual robots’ capabilities in terms of processing and computation. This concern prevents current robots from facing more complex applications related to understanding hu- man beings and perceiving their subtle feelings. Such hardware limitations have been already found in the computer science field. In this domain, they are currently being addressed using a new resource exploitation model coined as cloud computing, which is targeted at enabling massive storage and computation using smartly connected and inexpensive commodity hardware. The purpose of this paper is to propose a cloud-based robotics architecture to effectively develop complex tasks related to hospitalized children assistance. More specifically, this paper presents a multi-agent learning system that combines machine learning and cloud computing using low-cost robots to (1) collect and perceive children status, (2) build a human-readable set of rules related to the child-robot relationship, and (3) improve the children experience during their stay in the hos- pital. Conducted preliminary experiments proof the feasibility of this proposal and encourage practitioners to work towards this direction.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

An exploratory study of group-robot social interactions in a cultural center

This article describes an exploratory study of social human-robot interaction with the experimental robotic platform MASHI. The experiences were carried out in La Bobila Cultural Center in Barcelona, Spain to study the visitPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Examining the use of robots as teacher assistants in UAE classrooms : teacher and student perspectives

Aim/Purpose - This study sought to understand the views of both teachers and students on the usage of humanoid robots as teaching assistants in a specifically Arab context. Background - Social robots have in recent times penetrated the educational space. Although prevalent in Asia and some Western regions, the uptake, perception and acceptance of educational robots in the Arab or Emirati region is not known. Methodology - A total of 20 children and 5 teachers were randomly selected to comprise the sample for this study, which was a qualitative exploration executed using focus groups after an NAO robot (pronounced now) was deployed in their school for a day of revision sessions. Contribution - Where other papers on this topic have largely been based in other countries, this paper, to our knowledge, is the first to examine the potential for the integration of educational robots in the Arab context. Findings - The students were generally appreciative of the incorporation of humanoid robots as co-teachers, whereas the teachers were more circumspect, expressing some concerns and noting a desire to better streamline the process of bringing robots to the classroom. Recommendations for Practitioners - We found that the malleability of the robot’s voice played a pivotal role in the acceptability of the robot, and that generally students did well in smaller groups with the robot; teachers expressed concern that the children would become easily distracted should too many children be privy to one robot. Recommendations for Researchers - Our results provide valuable recommendations for researchers in the area. We believe, there needs to be continued efforts in devising suitable methodological assessment tools to evaluate student and teacher attitudes in the classroom particularly in the Arab world. We also advise researchers to focus on providing adaptive behavior in the context of educational robots. There are different distinct areas that need further clarifications and study based on our review. Impact on Society - On a wider scale, the findings of this paper have a huge implication for the educational technology as the integration of robotics in education is one of the emerging trends in the area, particularly in the UAE. This study allows to answer questions related to attitudes and perceptions of both teachers and students toward educational robots in the UAE. Future Research - Possible avenues of research in the area include focusing on the adaptive and natural behavior of robots in disciplines other than Mathematics as a means of successfully integrating robots in the classroom

Examining the use of Robots as Teacher Assistants in Uae Classrooms: Teacher and Student Perspectives

Aim/Purpose This study sought to understand the views of both teachers and students on the usage of humanoid robots as teaching assistants in a specifically Arab context. Background Social robots have in recent times penetrated the educational space. Although prevalent in Asia and some Western regions, the uptake, perception and ac-ceptance of educational robots in the Arab or Emirati region is not known. Methodology A total of 20 children and 5 teachers were randomly selected to comprise the sample for this study, which was a qualitative exploration executed using fo-cus groups after an NAO robot (pronounced now) was deployed in their school for a day of revision sessions. Contribution Where other papers on this topic have largely been based in other countries, this paper, to our knowledge, is the first to examine the potential for the inte-gration of educational robots in the Arab context. Findings The students were generally appreciative of the incorporation of humanoid robots as co-teachers, whereas the teachers were more circumspect, express-ing some concerns and noting a desire to better streamline the process of bringing robots to the classroom. Recommendations for Practitioners We found that the malleability of the robot’s voice played a pivotal role in the acceptability of the robot, and that generally students did well in smaller groups with the robot; teachers expressed concern that the children would become easily distracted should too many children be privy to one robot. Recommendations for Researchers Our results provide valuable recommendations for researchers in the area. We believe, there needs to be continued efforts in devising suitable methodo-logical assessment tools to evaluate student and teacher attitudes in the class-room particularly in the Arab world. We also advise researchers to focus on providing adaptive behavior in the context of educational robots. There are different distinct areas that need further clarifications and study based on our review. Impact on Society On a wider scale, the findings of this paper have a huge implication for the educational technology as the integration of robotics in education is one of the emerging trends in the area, particularly in the UAE. This study allows to answer questions related to attitudes and perceptions of both teachers and students toward educational robots in the UAE. Future Research Possible avenues of research in the area include focusing on the adaptive and natural behavior of robots in disciplines other than Mathematics as a means of successfully integrating robots in the classroom

Socially assistive robots as mental health interventions for children : a scoping review

Socially Assistive Robots are promising in their potential to promote and support mental health in children. There is a growing number of studies investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of robot interventions in supporting children’s mental wellbeing. Although preliminary evidence suggests that Socially Assistive Robots may have the potential to help address concerns such as stress and anxiety in children, there is a need for a greater focus in examining the impact of robotic interventions in this population. In order to better understand the current state of the evidence in this field and identify critical gaps, we carried out a scoping review of the available literature examining how social robots are investigated as means to support mental health in children. We identified existing types of robot intervention and measures that are being used to investigate specific mental health outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that robot interventions for children may positively impact mental health outcomes such as relief of distress and increase positive affect. Results also show that the strength of evidence needs to be improved to determine what types of robotic interventions could be most effective and readily implemented in pediatric mental health care. Based on our findings, we propose a set of recommendations to guide further research in this area

A field study with primary school children on perception of social presence and interactive behavior with a pet robot

This paper presents a study on measuring (1) how children experience a pet robot, (2) how they play with it and (3) how children’s perceptions on and interaction with pet robots are interrelated. The study features different types of subjective and objective techniques to assess the degree of perceived social entity from self-reports (i.e. questionnaires) and observed behavior. Three short questionnaires and an ad hoc code scheme of 15 low-level micro-behaviors were developed. 28 scholars aged 8 to 12 were observed at school during a play period with a Pleo robot and asked to answer the questionnaires. We found that the different questionnaire based methods were in line each other. Therefore, anyone of them can be used to measure the experience of a social entity. Play analyses showed that the two most prevalent behaviors were clearly social: petting the robot and showing it objects to engage in interaction. Moreover, children spent on average less than one per cent of the session time treating the robot as an artifact. However, significant covariation between the experience of a social entity and observed behavior could not be established

A field study with primary school children on perception of social presence and interactive behavior with a pet robot

This paper presents a study on (1) how children experience a pet robot, (2) how they play with it and (3) how children’s perceptions on and interaction with pet robots are interrelated. The study features different types of subjective and objective techniques to assess the degree of perceived social entity from self-reports (i.e. questionnaires) and observed behavior. Three short questionnaires and an ad hoc code scheme of 15 low-level micro-behaviors were developed. 28 scholars aged 8 to 12 were observed at school during a play period with a Pleo robot and asked to answer the questionnaires. We found that the different questionnaire based methods were in line each other. Therefore, anyone of them can be used to measure the experience of a social entity. Play analyses showed that the two most prevalent behaviors were clearly social: petting the robot and showing it objects to engage in interaction. Moreover, children spent on average less than one per cent of the session time treating the robot as an artifact. However, significant covariation between the experience of a social entity and observed behavior could not be established

A field study with primary school children on perception of social presence and interactive behavior with a pet robot

This paper presents a study on measuring (1) how children experience a pet robot, (2) how they play with it and (3) how children’s perceptions on and interaction with pet robots are interrelated. The study features different types of subjective and objective techniques to assess the degree of perceived social entity from self-reports (i.e. questionnaires) and observed behavior. Three short questionnaires and an ad hoc code scheme of 15 low-level micro-behaviors were developed. 28 scholars aged 8 to 12 were observed at school during a play period with a Pleo robot and asked to answer the questionnaires. We found that the different questionnaire based methods were in line each other. Therefore, anyone of them can be used to measure the experience of a social entity. Play analyses showed that the two most prevalent behaviors were clearly social: petting the robot and showing it objects to engage in interaction. Moreover, children spent on average less than one per cent of the session time treating the robot as an artifact. However, significant covariation between the experience of a social entity and observed behavior could not be established