The AIR model (Activities, Internal world, Relationships): a pragmatic framework for evaluating co-design

A pragmatic model, AIR (Activities; Internal world; Relationships), is presented for co-design of technologies and products to support well-being of people living with dementia. This model, co-developed with people with lived experience, is aimed at including psychosocial aspects in the prototype development process. The model is then related to a form of mindful evaluation framework that can be employed during the prototype testing of co-designed solutions. The components of this evaluation framework and associated instruments are described

Dyadic gaze patterns during child-robot collaborative gameplay in a tutoring interaction

This study examines patterns of coordinated gaze between a child and a robot (NAO) during a card matching game, 'Memory'. Dyadic gaze behavior like mutual gaze, gaze following and joint attention are indications both of child's engagement with the robot and of the quality of child-robot interaction. Eighteen children interacted with a robot tutor in two settings. In the first setting, the robot tutor gave clues to assist children in finding the matching cards, and in the other setting, the robot tutor only looked at the participants during the play. We investigated the coordination between child and robots' gaze behaviors. We found that more occurrences of mutual gaze and gaze following made the children aware of the gaze hints given by the robot and improved the efficacy of the robot tutor as a helping agent. This study, therefore, provides guidelines for gaze behaviors design to enrich child-robot interaction in a tutoring context

Electrodermal activity: Explorations in the psychophysiology of engagement with social robots in dementia

The study of engagement is central to improve the quality of care and provide people with dementia with meaningful activities. Current assessment techniques of engagement for people with dementia rely exclusively on behavior observation. However, novel unobtrusive sensing technologies, capable of tracking psychological states during activities, can provide us with a deeper layer of knowledge about engagement. We compared the engagement of persons with dementia involved in two playful activities, a game-based cognitive stimulation and a robot-based free play, using observational rating scales and electrodermal activity (EDA). Results highlight significant differences in observational rating scales and EDA between the two activities and several significant correlations between the items of observational rating scales of engagement and affect, and EDA features