scholarly journals Towards a communication model for a sociable companion robot

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Communication Model ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
The Public ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Robot Evaluation ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot

Anxiety has a lifetime prevalence of 31% of Canadians (Katzman et al. 2014). In Canada, psychological services are only covered by provincial health insurance if the psychologist is employed in the public sector; this means long wait times in the public system or expensive private coverage (Canadian Psychological Association). Currently, social robots and Socially Assistive Robots (SAR) are used in the treatment of elderly individuals in nursing homes, as well as children with autism (Feil-Seifer & Matarić, 2011; Tapus et al., 2012). The following MRP is the first step in a long-term project that will contend with the issues faced by individuals with anxiety using a combined communications, social robotics, and mental health approach to develop an anxiety specific socially assistive robot companion. The focus of this MRP is the development of a communication model that includes three core aspects of a social robot companion: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety disorders, and technical design. The model I am developing will consist of a series of suggestions for the robot that could be implemented in a long-term study. The model will include suggestions towards the design, communication means, and technical requirements, as well as a model for evaluating the robot from a Human-Robot- Interaction perspective. This will be done through an evaluation of three robots, Sphero’s BB-8 App Enabled Droid, Aldebaran’s Nao, and the Spin Master Zoomer robot. Evaluation measures include modified versions of Shneiderman’s (1992) evaluation of human-factors goals, Feil-Seifer et al.’s (2007) SAR evaluative questions, prompts for the description of both the communication methods and the physical characteristics, and a record of the emotional response of the user when interacting with the robot.

scholarly journals Towards a communication model for a sociable companion robot

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Communication Model ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
The Public ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Robot Evaluation ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot

Anxiety has a lifetime prevalence of 31% of Canadians (Katzman et al. 2014). In Canada, psychological services are only covered by provincial health insurance if the psychologist is employed in the public sector; this means long wait times in the public system or expensive private coverage (Canadian Psychological Association). Currently, social robots and Socially Assistive Robots (SAR) are used in the treatment of elderly individuals in nursing homes, as well as children with autism (Feil-Seifer & Matarić, 2011; Tapus et al., 2012). The following MRP is the first step in a long-term project that will contend with the issues faced by individuals with anxiety using a combined communications, social robotics, and mental health approach to develop an anxiety specific socially assistive robot companion. The focus of this MRP is the development of a communication model that includes three core aspects of a social robot companion: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety disorders, and technical design. The model I am developing will consist of a series of suggestions for the robot that could be implemented in a long-term study. The model will include suggestions towards the design, communication means, and technical requirements, as well as a model for evaluating the robot from a Human-Robot- Interaction perspective. This will be done through an evaluation of three robots, Sphero’s BB-8 App Enabled Droid, Aldebaran’s Nao, and the Spin Master Zoomer robot. Evaluation measures include modified versions of Shneiderman’s (1992) evaluation of human-factors goals, Feil-Seifer et al.’s (2007) SAR evaluative questions, prompts for the description of both the communication methods and the physical characteristics, and a record of the emotional response of the user when interacting with the robot.

A long-term study of children with autism playing with a robotic pet

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothée François ◽  
Stuart Powell ◽  
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Keyword(s):  
Play Therapy ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Long Term Study

This paper presents a novel methodological approach of how to design, conduct and analyse robot-assisted play. This approach is inspired by nondirective play therapy. The experimenter participates in the experiments, but the child remains the main leader for play. Besides, beyond inspiration from non-directive play therapy, this approach enables the experimenter to regulate the interaction under specific conditions in order to guide the child or ask her questions about reasoning or affect related to the robot. This approach has been tested in a long-term study with six children with autism in a school setting. An autonomous robot with zoomorphic, dog-like appearance was used in the studies. The children’s progress was analyzed according to three dimensions, namely, Play, Reasoning and Affect. Results from the case-study evaluations have shown the capability of the method to meet each child’s needs and abilities. Children who mainly played solitarily progressively experienced basic imitation games with the experimenter. Children who proactively played socially progressively experienced higher levels of play and constructed more reasoning related to the robot. They also expressed some interest in the robot, including, on occasion, affect. Keywords: Human–Robot Interaction, Robot-Mediated Therapy, Robot-Assisted Play, Non-Directive Play Therapy, Assistive Technology, Autism, Children

scholarly journals Long-term evaluation of a social robot in real homes

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maartje M. A. de Graaf ◽  
Somaya Ben Allouch ◽  
Jan A. G. M. van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Term Evaluation ◽  
Interaction Research

Abstract This study aims to contribute to emerging human-robot interaction research by adding longitudinal findings to a limited number of long-term social robotics home studies. We placed 70 robots in users’ homes for a period of up to six months, and used questionnaires and interviews to collect data at six points during this period. Results indicate that users’ evaluations of the robot dropped initially, but later rose after the robot had been used for a longer period of time. This is congruent with the so-called mere-exposure effect, which shows an increasing positive evaluation of a novel stimulus once people become familiar with it. Before adoption, users focus on control beliefs showing that previous experiences with robots or other technologies allows to create a mental image of what having and using a robot in the home would entail. After adoption, users focus on utilitarian and hedonic attitudes showing that especially usefulness, social presence, enjoyment and attractiveness are important factors for long-term acceptance.

scholarly journals FaceBots: Steps Towards Enhanced Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction by Utilizing and Publishing Online Social Information

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Mavridis ◽  
Michael Petychakis ◽  
Alexandros Tsamakos ◽  
Panos Toulis ◽  
Shervin Emami ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Evaluation Methodologies ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
Early Interaction

AbstractThe overarching goal of the FaceBots project is to support the achievement of sustainable long-term human-robot relationships through the creation of robots with face recognition and natural language capabilities, which exploit and publish online information, and especially social information available on Facebook, and which achieve two significant novelties. The underlying experimental hypothesis is that such relationships can be significantly enhanced if the human and the robot are gradually creating a pool of episodic memories that they can co-refer to (“shared memories”), and if they are both embedded in a social web of other humans and robots they mutually know (“shared friends”). We present a description of system architecture, as well as important concrete results regarding face recognition and transferability of training, with training and testing sets coming from either one or a combination of two sources: an onboard camera which can provide sequences of images, as well as facebook-derived photos. Furthermore, early interaction-related results are presented, and evaluation methodologies as well as interesting extensions are discussed.

DESIGNING INTELLIGENT SOCIALLY ASSISTIVE ROBOTS AS EFFECTIVE TOOLS IN COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS

2011 ◽  
Vol 08 (01) ◽  
pp. 103-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANIE CHAN ◽  
GOLDIE NEJAT ◽  
JINGCONG CHEN
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Stimulation ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Control Architecture ◽  
Cognitive Interventions ◽  
Training Interventions ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Term Basis ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot

Recently, there has been a growing body of research that supports the effectiveness of using non-pharmacological cognitive and social training interventions to reduce the decline of or improve brain functioning in individuals suffering from cognitive impairments. However, implementing and sustaining such interventions on a long-term basis is difficult as they require considerable resources and people, and can be very time-consuming for healthcare staff. Our research focuses on making these interventions more accessible to healthcare professionals through the aid of robotic assistants. The objective of our work is to develop an intelligent socially assistive robot with abilities to recognize and identify human affective intent to determine its own appropriate emotion-based behavior while engaging in assistive interactions with people. In this paper, we present the design of a novel human-robot interaction (HRI) control architecture that allows the robot to provide social and cognitive stimulation in person-centered cognitive interventions. Namely, the novel control architecture is designed to allow a robot to act as a social motivator by encouraging, congratulating and assisting a person during the course of a cognitively stimulating activity. Preliminary experiments validate the effectiveness of the control architecture in providing assistive interactions during a HRI-based person-directed activity.

scholarly journals Comply with Me: Using Design Manipulations to Affect Human–Robot Interaction in a COVID-19 Officer Robot Use Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Ela Liberman-Pincu ◽  
Amit David ◽  
Vardit Sarne-Fleischmann ◽  
Yael Edan ◽  
Tal Oron-Gilad
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Public Building ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Robotic Application

This study examines the effect of a COVID-19 Officer Robot (COR) on passersby compliance and the effects of its minor design manipulations on human–robot interaction. A robotic application was developed to ensure participants entering a public building comply with COVID restrictions of a green pass and wearing a face mask. The participants’ attitudes toward the robot and their perception of its authoritativeness were explored with video and questionnaires data. Thematic analysis was used to define unique behaviors related to human–COR interaction. Direct and extended interactions with minor design manipulation of the COR were evaluated in a public scenario setting. The results demonstrate that even minor design manipulations may influence users’ attitudes toward officer robots. The outcomes of this research can support manufacturers in rapidly adjusting their robots to new domains and tasks and guide future designs of authoritative socially assistive robots (SARs).

scholarly journals AIBOStory – Autonomous Robots supporting Interactive, Collaborative Story-telling

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fotios Papadopoulos ◽  
Kerstin Dautenhahn ◽  
Wan Ching Ho
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Robots ◽  
Autonomous Robot ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
User Preference ◽  
Story Telling ◽  
Remote Communication ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Communication Software

AbstractThis article describes the design and evaluation of AIBOStory - a novel, remote interactive story telling system that allows users to create and share common stories through an integrated, autonomous robot companion acting as a social mediator between two remotely located people. The behaviour of the robot was inspired by dog behaviour, including a simple computational memory model. AIBOStory has been designed to work alongside online video communication software and aims to enrich remote communication experiences over the internet. An initial pilot study evaluated the proposed system’s use and acceptance by the users. Five pairs of participants were exposed to the system, with the robot acting as a social mediator, and the results suggested an overall positive acceptance response. The main study involved long-term interactions of 20 participants using AIBOStory in order to study their preferences between two modes: using the game enhanced with an autonomous robot and a non-robot mode which did not use the robot. Instruments used in this study include multiple questionnaires from different communication sessions, demographic forms and logged data from the robots and the system. The data was analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques to measure user preference and human-robot interaction. The statistical analysis suggests user preferences towards the robot mode.

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