KidRec: Children & Recommender Systems: Workshop Co-Located with ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2017)

The 1st Workshop on Children and Recommender Systems (KidRec) is taking place in Como, Italy August 27th, 2017 in conjunction with the ACM RecSys 2017 conference. The goals of the workshop are threefold: (1) discuss and identify issues related to recommender systems used by children including specific challenges and limitations, (2) discuss possible solutions to the identified challenges and plan for future research, and (3) build a community to directly work on these important issues

A huggable, mobile robot for developmental disorder interventions in a multi-modal interaction space

We propose a new emotional, huggable, mobile, and configurable robot (Teo), which can address some of the still open therapeutic needs in the treatment of Developmental Disability (DD). Teo has been designed in partnership with a team of DD specialists, and it is meant to be used as an efficient and easy-to-use tool for caregivers. Teo is integrated with virtual worlds shown on large displays or projections and with external motion sensing devices to support various forms of full-body interaction and to engage DD persons in a variety of play activities that blend the digital and physical world and can be fully customized by therapists to meet the requirements of each single subject. Exploratory studies have been performed at two rehabilitation centres to investigate the potential of our approach. The positive results of these studies pinpoint that our system endeavors promising opportunities to offer new forms of interventions for DD people

Embodied Learning in Immersive Smart Spaces

This paper presents the design and evaluation of IMAGINE, a novel interactive immersive smart space for embodied learning. In IMAGINE children use full-body movements and gestures to interact with multimedia educational contents projected on the wall and on the floor, while synchronized light effects enhance immersivity. A controlled study performed at a primary school with 48 children aged 6-8 highlights the educational potential of an immersive embodied solution, also compared to traditional teaching methods, and draws some implications for smart-space technology adoption in educational contexts

Phygital interfaces for people with intellectual disability: an exploratory study at a social care center

AbstractPhygital interaction is a form of tangible interaction where digital and physical contents are combined in such a way that the locus of multimedia information is detached from the physical material(s) manipulated by the user. The use of phygital interaction is supported by several theoretical approaches that emphasize the development of cognitive skills dependent upon embodied interactions with the physical environment. Several studies demonstrate the potential of using phygital technologies for supporting people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the development of cognitive, sensorimotor, social and behavioral skills. Our research aims at exploring the potential of phygital interaction for (young) adults with ID in a real setting, using a research platform called Reflex as a case study. For this purpose, we ran an empirical study involving 17 participants with ID and 8 specialists, and compared Reflex with approaches making use of only digital contents or paper-based materials. Our findings highlighted the potentials of phygital approaches to perform interventions with people with ID, enhancing their performances with an appreciated interaction method. In addition, the post-study interviews with specialists favoured the adoption of phygital technologies in a social care context

Integrating Virtual Worlds and Mobile Robots in game based treatment for autistic children

In recent years we have witnessed a rapid growth of learning applications for children with different kinds of disabilities. These tools exploit different learning paradigms and employ a gamut of “beyond the desktop” interaction modes and devices, including haptic controllers, (multi)touch small and large displays, digitally augmented physical objects, robots and motion-sensing cameras. Our research explores novel interactive solutions for children with intellectual disability who have significant limitations both in intellectual functioning, i.e., general mental capacity such as memory, attention, reasoning and problem solving, and in adaptive behavior, i.e., social and practical skills related to daily living (interpersonal relationships. social responsibility, ability to follow rules/obey laws, personal care). Our goal is to provide intellectually disabled children with game-based learning tools that integrate motion-based touchless interaction and interaction with mobile robots. In this chapter, we discuss the above issues and exemplify them by describing a set of games based on the above mentioned interaction paradigm that we have designed for IDD children in order to promote social and cognitive skills