Humanoid robot Marko - an assistant in therapy for children

This paper reports on work in progress towards development of a robot to be used as assistive technology in treatment of children with developmental disorders (cerebral palsy). This work integrates two activities. The first one is mechanical device design (humanoid robot) of sufficient capabilities for demonstration of therapeutical exercises for habilitation of gross and fine motor functions and for acquiring spatial relationships. The second one is design of appropriate communication capabilities of the robot. The basic therapeutical role of the robot is to motivate children to practice therapy harder and longer. To achieve this, robot must fulfil two requirements: it must have appropriate appearance to be able to establish affective attachment of the child to the robot, and must be able to communicate with children verbally (speech recognition and synthesis,) and non-verbally (facial expressions, gestures...). Thus, conversational abilities are unavoidable and among the most important capabilities. In short, robot should be able to manage three-party natural language conversation – between the child, the therapist and the robot – in clinical settings

Robots for the psychological wellbeing of the elderly

The present paper examines the potential robots may have to motivate and support elderly people psychologically. Two short- and long-term research scenarios are proposed where a robot interacts with an elderly person offering psychological support. We describe one experiment that was carried out probing the short-term scenario. Another study currently under development is also presented, which is based on the long-term scenario. The two scenarios have advantages and disadvantages and appear as complementary to each other

Intelligent support technologies for older people : an analysis of characteristics and roles

For almost two decades there have been many developments in using intelligent technologies to support older people, with many different terms proposed to describe these technologies including assistive robots, embodied conversational agents and relational agents. Many technologies have been proposed in many different configurations and many assistance roles have been explored. Characteristics of these technologies include tangible or virtual; anthropomorphic, biomorphic, creature or object-like; level of visual realism; paralinguistic abilities; interactivity; adaptability; movement; and positioning. The assistive roles proposed include providing information, advice and reminders, helping with physical tasks, monitoring, providing companionship and emotional support. This paper provides an overview of the characteristics and roles of these technologies and attempts to clarify some of the terminology used. It aims to provide a guide for researchers from the wide range of disciplines working on such technologies for supporting older people

VIRTUAL INFLUENCER MARKETING: ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND ITS EFFECT

Virtual influencers, computer-generated characters who are followed by many social media users, are increasingly contracted to endorse products and brands. However, little research has examined their effectiveness in influencer marketing. Filling this gap, we study anthropomorphism, an important feature of virtual influencers, and its role in virtual influencer marketing. Particularly, drawing from the marketing literature, we study four anthropomorphic elements, appearance, moral virtue, cognitive experience, and conscious emotionality, and their effects on followers\u27 purchase intention. These effects are modelled via the mediation of parasocial relationship with and perceived credibility of virtual influencers. Influencer-product congruence is posited as a moderator on the links between two mediators and purchase intention. An online survey will be conducted to test our hypotheses. This research extends the influencer marketing literature by exploring virtual influencer features and their effects on marketing effectiveness and provides knowledge on the anthropomorphism design of virtual influencers

INVITATION: An Elderly Friendly ICT-enabled Interactive Installation to Promote Social Participations

Many countries are facing significant challenges posed by aging populations, and many of these elderly people are increasingly socially isolated, raising the need to develop senior-friendly services and settings for community life. ICT-enabled technologies can be used to help the elderly maintain adequate degrees of social participation. This paper reports the design and production of an innovative recreation installation featuring elderly friendly technologies to enhance the social lives of elderly Chinese people. The contents are composed of modernized visualization elements of traditional Chinese painting designed to engage elderly Chinese people and promote interaction and participation.</p

Effects of multicomponent exercise training program on biochemical and motor functions in patients with alzheimer’s dementia

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a multicomponent exercise training program on motor function and biochemical markers in patients with Alzheimer’s-type dementia. Twenty patients with Alzheimer disease, divided into the intervention group (IG; aged 84 ± 3.1 years) and the control group (CG; aged 86 ± 2.6 years) were included in this study. The intervention group was enrolled into an exercise training program for three months (two sessions of 60 min per week). The CG was instructed to follow their daily rhythm of life (e.g., rest, reading) without a physical training program. After 3 months of participation in a multicomponent exercise program, gait speed, balance and walking parameters were all improved in the intervention group as measured with the Berg Balance Scale, the Tinetti test, the 6-min walking test and the timed up and go test (p < 0.05 for all; percentage range of improvements: 3.17% to 53.40%), except the walking while talking test, and biochemical parameters were not affected (p > 0.05). Our results demonstrate that exercise improves postural control, aerobic capacity and mobility functions in patients with Alzheimer disease. Physical exercise is a safe and effective method for treating physical disorders in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and can easily be integrated in various programs for the management of Alzheimer disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Can an LLM-Powered Socially Assistive Robot Effectively and Safely Deliver Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? A Study With University Students

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a widely used therapeutic method for guiding individuals toward restructuring their thinking patterns as a means of addressing anxiety, depression, and other challenges. We developed a large language model (LLM)-powered prompt-engineered socially assistive robot (SAR) that guides participants through interactive CBT at-home exercises. We evaluated the performance of the SAR through a 15-day study with 38 university students randomly assigned to interact daily with the robot or a chatbot (using the same LLM), or complete traditional CBT worksheets throughout the duration of the study. We measured weekly therapeutic outcomes, changes in pre-/post-session anxiety measures, and adherence to completing CBT exercises. We found that self-reported measures of general psychological distress significantly decreased over the study period in the robot and worksheet conditions but not the chatbot condition. Furthermore, the SAR enabled significant single-session improvements for more sessions than the other two conditions combined. Our findings suggest that SAR-guided LLM-powered CBT may be as effective as traditional worksheet methods in supporting therapeutic progress from the beginning to the end of the study and superior in decreasing user anxiety immediately after completing the CBT exercise

Experiences of a motivational interview delivered by a robot: qualitative study

Background Motivational interviewing is an effective intervention for supporting behavior change but traditionally depends on face-to-face dialogue with a human counselor. This study addressed a key challenge for the goal of developing social robotic motivational interviewers: creating an interview protocol, within the constraints of current artificial intelligence, which participants will find engaging and helpful. Objective The aim of this study was to explore participants’ qualitative experiences of a motivational interview delivered by a social robot, including their evaluation of usability of the robot during the interaction and its impact on their motivation. Methods NAO robots are humanoid, child-sized social robots. We programmed a NAO robot with Choregraphe software to deliver a scripted motivational interview focused on increasing physical activity. The interview was designed to be comprehensible even without an empathetic response from the robot. Robot breathing and face-tracking functions were used to give an impression of attentiveness. A total of 20 participants took part in the robot-delivered motivational interview and evaluated it after 1 week by responding to a series of written open-ended questions. Each participant was left alone to speak aloud with the robot, advancing through a series of questions by tapping the robot’s head sensor. Evaluations were content-analyzed utilizing Boyatzis’ steps: (1) sampling and design, (2) developing themes and codes, and (3) validating and applying the codes. Results Themes focused on interaction with the robot, motivation, change in physical activity, and overall evaluation of the intervention. Participants found the instructions clear and the navigation easy to use. Most enjoyed the interaction but also found it was restricted by the lack of individualized response from the robot. Many positively appraised the nonjudgmental aspect of the interview and how it gave space to articulate their motivation for change. Some participants felt that the intervention increased their physical activity levels. Conclusions Social robots can achieve a fundamental objective of motivational interviewing, encouraging participants to articulate their goals and dilemmas aloud. Because they are perceived as nonjudgmental, robots may have advantages over more humanoid avatars for delivering virtual support for behavioral change

Can a Robot Smile? Wittgenstein on Facial Expression

Some researchers in social robotics aim to build ‘face robots’—machines that interact with human beings (or other robots) by means of facial expression and gesture. They aim, in part, to use these robots to test hypotheses concerning human social and psychological development (and disorders such as autism) in controlled, repeatable experiments. A robot may be said to ‘grin’ and ‘frown’, or to have ‘a smile on its face’. This is not to claim merely that the robot has a certain physical configuration or behaviour; nor is it to say merely that the robot’s ‘facial’ display is, like an emoticon or photograph, a representation of a smile or frown. Although researchers may refrain from claiming that their machines have emotions, they attribute expressive behaviours to them literally and without qualification. Wittgenstein said, however, ‘A smiling mouth smiles only in a human face’. Smiling is a complex conventional gesture. A facial display is a smile only if it has a certain meaning—the meaning that distinguishes a smile from a human grimace or facial tic, and from a chimpanzee’s bared-teeth display. In this paper I explore the implications of Wittgenstein’s remarks on expression for the claim that face robots can smile or frown