Socially intelligent robots that understand and respond to human touch

Touch is an important nonverbal form of interpersonal interaction which is used to communicate emotions and other social messages. As interactions with social robots are likely to become more common in the near future these robots should also be able to engage in tactile interaction with humans. Therefore, the aim of the research presented in this dissertation is to work towards socially intelligent robots that can understand and respond to human touch. To become a socially intelligent actor a robot must be able to sense, classify and interpret human touch and respond to this in an appropriate manner. To this end we present work that addresses different parts of this interaction cycle. The contributions of this dissertation are the following. We have made a touch gesture dataset available to the research community and have presented benchmark results. Furthermore, we have sparked interest into the new field of social touch recognition by organizing a machine learning challenge and have pinpointed directions for further research. Also, we have exposed potential difficulties for the recognition of social touch in more naturalistic settings. Moreover, the findings presented in this dissertation can help to inform the design of a behavioral model for robot pet companions that can understand and respond to human touch. Additionally, we have focused on the requirements for tactile interaction with robot pets for health care applications

The Potential use of Social Robots in Acute Paediatric Settings: A mixed-methods exploration of feasibility, acceptance, and utility.

The hospital can be an anxious place for paediatric patients. Reducing and managing anxiety in children is important; finding tools and interventions to support this is essential to the healthcare of paediatric patients. Social robots offer a new way of interacting with children and have the potential to reduce negative emotions. Even though research has found that social robots could potentially be an anxiety-preventing tool, there is no research exploring how children play in hospital settings and which features are required for social robots to impact paediatric patients positively. There are also gaps regarding parents of paediatric patients' and healthcare professionals' views on social robots and how they feel about using them as a tool within a hospital setting. This thesis examined the feasibility of using social robots in four hospital settings to address this gap. Observations of paediatric patients revealed the importance of tactile play and games with rules as popular forms of interaction with social robots. Questionnaires and interviews gathered feedback from paediatric patients, parents, and healthcare professionals. Overall, the response to social robots was positive, with parents and healthcare professionals acknowledging their potential benefits in reducing anxiety. However, some paediatric patients did not find the social robot relaxing, and there were mixed opinions on its anxiety-reducing capabilities. While parents noticed a change in their children's negative moods and enjoyed the interaction, a few were uncertain about anxiety reduction. Healthcare professionals expressed excitement about social robots but sought further clarity on their practical implementation in a hospital setting. Despite the promising aspects, this thesis highlights the need for further research and development. Large-scale comparisons of social robots in diverse hospital settings and longitudinal studies with paediatric patients are warranted to gain deeper insights and enhance the practicality of using social robots as anxiety-reducing tools in paediatric care

11.1 Epistemological Bodies / 20th Anniversary – Part 2

Spencer Selby, Pete Spence, Modris Eksteins, Paulo Bruscky, William Gibson, Fernando Aguiar, David Fennario, W.A. Hamilton, Anne-Miek Bibbe, Don K. Philpot, Harry Rudolfs, Henryk Skwar, Harry Polkinhorn, Corey Frost, Maria Gould, Brian Cullen, Libby Scheier, Derk Wynand, Litsa Spathi, Gordon Massman, Marcello Diotallevi, Michael Londry, Heather Hermant, Ian Cockfield, Christine Germain, Steven Venright, Barry Butson, Gustav Morin, George Murray, John Ditsky, Daniel F. Bradley, Peter Jaeger, Lawrence Upton, Linda Russo, Derek Beaulieu, Tim Atkins, Tom Orange, Miles Champion, Clemente Padin, Kim Dawn, Craig Burnett, Keith Hartman, Steven Ross Smith, Bonnie Salans, Andrea Nicki, Errol Miller, Bob Wakulich, Stephen Bett, Rob McLennan, Gustave Morin, Ryan Knighton, Keyth “Bangles” Lee, Jeffrey R. Young, Jane Creighton, Redell Olsen, Mark Dunn, Bill Keith, Richard Purdy, Dirk Van Nouhuys, Jason Schneider, Brett Martel, Gordon Marsden, Jason DeBoer. Cover Art: Fausto Bedoya