Design patterns for an interactive storytelling robot to support children's engagement and agency

In this paper we specify and validate three interaction design patterns for an interactive storytelling experience with an autonomous social robot. The patterns enable the child to make decisions about the story by talking with the robot, reenact parts of the story together with the robot, and recording self-made sound effects. The design patterns successfully support children's engagement and agency. A user study (N = 27, 8-10 y.o.) showed that children paid more attention to the robot, enjoyed the storytelling experience more, and could recall more about the story, when the design patterns were employed by the robot during storytelling. All three aspects are important features of engagement. Children felt more autonomous during storytelling with the design patterns and highly appreciated that the design patterns allowed them to express themselves more freely. Both aspects are important features of children's agency. Important lessons we have learned are that reducing points of confusion and giving the children more time to make themselves heard by the robot will improve the patterns efficiency to support engagement and agency. Allowing children to pick and choose from a diverse set of stories and interaction settings would make the storytelling experience more inclusive for a broader range of children

Contributions to the Modelling of Auditory Hallucinations, Social robotics, and Multiagent Systems

165 p.The Thesis covers three diverse lines of work that have been tackled with the central endeavor of modeling and understanding the phenomena under consideration. Firstly, the Thesis works on the problem of finding brain connectivity biomarkers of auditory hallucinations, a rather frequent phenomena that can be related some pathologies, but which is also present in healthy population. We apply machine learning techniques to assess the significance of effective brain connections extracted by either dynamical causal modeling or Granger causality. Secondly, the Thesis deals with the usefulness of social robotics strorytelling as a therapeutic tools for children at risk of exclussion. The Thesis reports on the observations gathered in several therapeutic sessions carried out in Spain and Bulgaria, under the supervision of tutors and caregivers. Thirdly, the Thesis deals with the spatio-temporal dynamic modeling of social agents trying to explain the phenomena of opinion survival of the social minorities. The Thesis proposes a eco-social model endowed with spatial mobility of the agents. Such mobility and the spatial perception of the agents are found to be strong mechanisms explaining opinion propagation and survival

Contributions to the Modelling of Auditory Hallucinations, Social robotics, and Multiagent Systems

165 p.The Thesis covers three diverse lines of work that have been tackled with the central endeavor of modeling and understanding the phenomena under consideration. Firstly, the Thesis works on the problem of finding brain connectivity biomarkers of auditory hallucinations, a rather frequent phenomena that can be related some pathologies, but which is also present in healthy population. We apply machine learning techniques to assess the significance of effective brain connections extracted by either dynamical causal modeling or Granger causality. Secondly, the Thesis deals with the usefulness of social robotics strorytelling as a therapeutic tools for children at risk of exclussion. The Thesis reports on the observations gathered in several therapeutic sessions carried out in Spain and Bulgaria, under the supervision of tutors and caregivers. Thirdly, the Thesis deals with the spatio-temporal dynamic modeling of social agents trying to explain the phenomena of opinion survival of the social minorities. The Thesis proposes a eco-social model endowed with spatial mobility of the agents. Such mobility and the spatial perception of the agents are found to be strong mechanisms explaining opinion propagation and survival

Robots for inclusive classrooms: a scoping review

Robot-based activities have been proven to be a valuable tool for children with learning and developmental disabilities. However, their feasibility in general educational environments needs further exploration. This scoping review provides a critical examination of robot-based learning experiences involving children with disabilities, implemented either in mainstream schools or in specialized centers in order to gain insight into their potential to support inclusion. For this purpose, a search was conducted in the multidisciplinary Scopus and WoS databases, completed with Dialnet database. Based on PRISMA guidelines for literature reviews, we limited the systematic analysis to 33 papers published after 2009 that contain information on the instructional design and details of how the activities were implemented. On the other hand, studies reporting interventions with robots for clinical purposes were excluded as well as papers focused exclusively on technical developments. Content analysis shows that most experiences lead to improvements in terms of educational goals and/or stakeholders’ satisfaction. However, the analysis also reported issues that may hinder the adoption of these practices in general classrooms and integrated education services. The reported difficulties include the lack of stability and autonomy of the robots used, the need for aids and adaptations to enable children with sensory and physical impairments to interact easily with the robots, and the requirement of technical support with system’s setup, implementation and maintenance. We conclude that robots and robotics are a powerful tool to address the needs of diverse learners who are included in mainstream classrooms. This review aims at presenting evidences of good practices and recommendations for successful implementation.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Human-Robot Interaction for Children with Cerebral Palsy: Reflection and Suggestion for Interactive Scenario Design

AbstractThis paper explains how a humanoid robot NAO can be used as an assistive technology in specific therapy for children with cerebral palsy (CP). The role of the robot is to motivate the children as to keep them engaged in therapy. To achieve this, the robot must have appropriate appearance to be able to establish affective engagement between child and robot. In addition, the robot should exhibit the right therapeutic approach of managing children with CP. How the humanoid robot NAO acts as a tool to assist in improving the outcome of conventional therapy especially by imitation learning will also be explained. Four interactive scenarios in human-robot interaction (HRI) were designed based on the measurement items in Gross Motor Functional Measure (GMFM). The scenarios will then be constructed based on suitability that will be executed by the robot. As a result from the discussions between clinicians, therapists and engineers, four interactive scenarios consists of introductory rapport, sit to stand, body balancing and ball kicking activity have been formulated. The study has been performed in collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Medical Specialist Centre, Discipline of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UiTM Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia

Designing Experiments for Children and Robots

The way in which a robot is presented to children can have a profound effect on their perception of its capabilities. A Poppy Humanoid robot was introduced to 43 children (aged 7-9) either as a robot that needed programming or as a member of the team which needed to learn. The children were asked to write down three actions they believed that the robot could complete. Thematic analysis was then used to categorise the data. When the robot was not humanised, 71% of the suggestions were about completing a physical action or sequence of actions and 14% required the robot to exhibit intelligence or learning. When humanised, 39% of the actions were physical and 35% were categorised as intelligent. Introducing the robot as human captured emotional and appearance actions not otherwise present

NAOMOBBY, desarrollo de una herramienta software basada en visión por computador y robótica para apoyar la rehabilitación en terapias físicas de miembros superiores

Nowadays, 21% of Colombian population, and the 35% of the population in Cauca Valley have limited movement of body, arms, hands or legs. Then, the quality of life of these people is highly affected, since they have limitations in daily living activities. Physical rehabilitation therapies allow the restoration of movement and maximum functional capacity in people. Successful physical therapies depend on empathy and motivation with the rehabilitation process (RP), then the more empathy of patients with the RP, the more patient willingness regarding the rehabilitation therapy. Motivation is crucial in rehabilitation, and it is used as a fundamental rehabilitation out-come. This work has the aim to present the software tool called NAOMOBBY to support physical rehabilitation therapies of shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. NAOMOBBY includes a GUI for therapist, a Kinect sensor and an interactive humanoid robot NAO to increase the patient willingness regarding the RP. NAOMOBBY includes the following modules: configuration/management, movement reproduction, and results report using GAS methodology. NAOMOBBY was tested using quantitative and field tests. Quantitative tests measure the error in the Kinect sensor of the NAO robot joint motions to bring users a suitable feedback. Quantitative results were obtained using three basic functional motions. The mean square error for these three motions were 0,373%, 0,096%, and 1,129% respectively. Field tests were conducted at the SURGIR neuro-rehabilitation center using 3 physiotherapists who considered the NAOMOBBY software tool as a novel, easy to use, and that encourage patients to perform the physical therapy.Actualmente, el 21% de la población en Colombia y el 35% de la población del Valle del Cauca tiene limitaciones en el movimiento del cuerpo, brazos, manos o piernas. Entonces, la calidad de vida de estas personas está altamente afectado, ya que ellas tienen limitaciones al desarrollar actividades del diario vivir. La rehabilitación a través de la terapia física, permite la restauración del movimiento y la máxima capacidad funcional en las personas. Terapias físicas exitosas dependen de la empatía y motivación con el proceso de rehabilitación (PR), entonces entre más alta la empatía de los pacientes con el PR, más alta la disposición será de los pacientes en relación con la terapia de rehabilitación. Motivación es crucial en rehabilitación, y es usado como un resultado determinante de la rehabilitación. Este trabajo tiene el objetivo de presentar la herramienta software llamada NAOMOBBY para soportar las terapias de rehabilitación física de las articulaciones de hombro, codo y muñeca. NAOMOBBY incluye una GUI para terapeutas, un sensor Kinect y un robot interactivo humanoide NAO con el fin de incrementar la disposición del paciente hacia el PR. NAOMOBBY incluye los siguientes módulos: configuración y gestión, reproducción de movimiento y reporte de resultados usando la metodología GAS. NAOMOBBY fue probada usando pruebas cuantitativas y de campo. Las pruebas cuantitativas miden el error en el sensor Kinect de los movimientos de las articulaciones del robot NAO, con el fin de brindar a los usuarios una adecuada realimentación. Los resultados cuantitativos fueron obtenidos usando tres movimientos funcionales básicos. Los errores cuadráticos medios de estos tres movimientos fueron 0,373%, 0,096%, y 1,129% respectivamente. Las pruebas de campo fueron realizadas en el centro de neuro-rehabilitación SURGIR usando 3 fisioterapeutas quienes consideraron a la herramienta software NAOMOBBY como novedosos, fáciles de usar y que motiva a los pacientes a realizar la terapia física