scholarly journals Social Robots as Creativity Eliciting Agents

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safinah Ali ◽  
Nisha Devasia ◽  
Hae Won Park ◽  
Cynthia Breazeal
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Positive Reinforcement ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Pedagogical Tools ◽  
Social Agent ◽  
Verbal Creativity ◽  
Construction Task

Can robots help children be more creative? In this work, we posit social robots as creativity support tools for children in collaborative interactions. Children learn creative expressions and behaviors through social interactions with others during playful and collaborative tasks, and socially emulate their peers’ and teachers’ creativity. Social robots have a unique ability to engage in social and emotional interactions with children that can be leveraged to foster creative expression. We focus on two types of social interactions: creativity demonstration, where the robot exhibits creative behaviors, and creativity scaffolding, where the robot poses challenges, suggests ideas, provides positive reinforcement, and asks questions to scaffold children’s creativity. We situate our research in three playful and collaborative tasks - the Droodle Creativity game (that affords verbal creativity), the MagicDraw game (that affords figural creativity), and the WeDo construction task (that affords constructional creativity), that children play with Jibo, a social robot. To evaluate the efficacy of the robot’s social behaviors in enhancing creative behavior and expression in children, we ran three randomized controlled trials with 169 children in the 5–10 yr old age group. In the first two tasks, the robot exhibited creativity demonstration behaviors. We found that children who interacted with the robot exhibiting high verbal creativity in the Droodle game and high figural creativity in the MagicDraw game also exhibited significantly higher creativity than a control group of participants who interacted with a robot that did not express creativity (p < 0.05*). In the WeDo construction task, children who interacted with the robot that expressed creative scaffolding behaviors (asking reflective questions, generating ideas and challenges, and providing positive reinforcement) demonstrated higher creativity than participants in the control group by expressing a greater number of ideas, more original ideas, and more varied use of available materials (p < 0.05*). We found that both creativity demonstration and creativity scaffolding can be leveraged as social mechanisms for eliciting creativity in children using a social robot. From our findings, we suggest design guidelines for pedagogical tools and social agent interactions to better support children’s creativity.

scholarly journals Vulnerable robots positively shape human conversational dynamics in a human–robot team

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (12) ◽  
pp. 6370-6375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret L. Traeger ◽  
Sarah Strohkorb Sebo ◽  
Malte Jung ◽  
Brian Scassellati ◽  
Nicholas A. Christakis
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Hybrid Systems ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Collaborative Game

Social robots are becoming increasingly influential in shaping the behavior of humans with whom they interact. Here, we examine how the actions of a social robot can influence human-to-human communication, and not just robot–human communication, using groups of three humans and one robot playing 30 rounds of a collaborative game (n= 51 groups). We find that people in groups with a robot making vulnerable statements converse substantially more with each other, distribute their conversation somewhat more equally, and perceive their groups more positively compared to control groups with a robot that either makes neutral statements or no statements at the end of each round. Shifts in robot speech have the power not only to affect how people interact with robots, but also how people interact with each other, offering the prospect for modifying social interactions via the introduction of artificial agents into hybrid systems of humans and machines.

scholarly journals Mitigating Children’s Pain and Anxiety during Blood Draw Using Social Robots

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1211
Author(s):  
Matthijs H. J. Smakman ◽  
Koen Smit ◽  
Lotte Buser ◽  
Tom Monshouwer ◽  
Nigel van Putten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Blood Collection ◽  
Medical Procedure ◽  
Blood Draw ◽  
The Social ◽  
Children's Pain

Young pediatric patients who undergo venipuncture or capillary blood sampling often experience high levels of pain and anxiety. This often results in distressed young patients and their parents, increased treatment times, and a higher workload for healthcare professionals. Social robots are a new and promising tool to mitigate children’s pain and anxiety. This study aims to purposefully design and test a social robot for mitigating stress and anxiety during blood draw of children. We first programmed a social robot based on the requirements expressed by experienced healthcare professionals during focus group sessions. Next, we designed a randomized controlled experiment in which the social robot was applied as a distraction method to measure its capacity to mitigate pain and anxiety in children during blood draw in a children’s hospital setting. Children who interacted with the robot showed significantly lower levels of anxiety before actual blood collection, compared to children who received regular medical treatment. Children in the middle classes of primary school (aged 6–9) seemed especially sensitive to the robot’s ability to mitigate pain and anxiety before blood draw. Children’s parents overall expressed strong positive attitudes toward the use and effectiveness of the social robot for mitigating pain and anxiety. The results of this study demonstrate that social robots can be considered a new and effective tool for lowering children’s anxiety prior to the distressing medical procedure of blood collection.

scholarly journals The Social Robot in Rehabilitation and Assistance: What is the Future?

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 244
Author(s):  
Daniele Giansanti
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Clinical Use ◽  
Research Development ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Collaborative Robotics ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future

This commentary aims to address the field of social robots both in terms of the global situation and research perspectives. It has four polarities. First, it revisits the evolutions in robotics, which, starting from collaborative robotics, has led to the diffusion of social robots. Second, it illustrates the main fields in the employment of social robots in rehabilitation and assistance in the elderly and handicapped and in further emerging sectors. Third, it takes a look at the future directions of the research development both in terms of clinical and technological aspects. Fourth, it discusses the opportunities and limits, starting from the development and clinical use of social robots during the COVID-19 pandemic to the increase of ethical discussion on their use.

scholarly journals The Social Robot and the Digital Physiotherapist: Are We Ready for the Team Play?

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1454
Author(s):  
Rossella Simeoni ◽  
Federico Colonnelli ◽  
Veronica Eutizi ◽  
Matteo Marchetti ◽  
Elena Paolini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Feedback Form ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Periodic Monitoring

Motivation: We are witnessing two phenomena. The first is that the physiotherapist is increasingly becoming a figure that must interact with Digital Health. On the other hand, social robots through research are improving more and more in the aspects of social interaction thanks also to artificial intelligence and becoming useful in rehabilitation processes. It begins to become strategic to investigate the intersections between these two phenomena. Objective: Therefore, we set ourselves the goal of investigating the consensus and opinion of physiotherapists around the introduction of social robots in clinical practice both in rehabilitation and assistance. Procedure: An electronic survey has been developed focused on social robot-based rehabilitation and assistance and has been submitted to subjects focused on physiotherapy sciences to investigate their opinion and their level of consent regarding the use of the social robot in rehabilitation and assistance. Two samples of subjects were recruited: the first group (156 participating subjects, 79 males, 77 females, mean age 24.3 years) was in the training phase, and the second (167 participating subjects, 86 males, 81 females, mean age 42.4 years) group was involved in the work processes. An electronic feedback form was also submitted to investigate the acceptance of the proposed methodology. Results: The survey showed a consistency of the results between the two samples from which interesting considerations emerge. Contrary to stereotypes that report how AI-based devices put jobs at risk, physiotherapists are not afraid of these devices. The subjects involved in the study believe the following: (a) social robots can be reliable co-workers but will remain a complementary device; (b) their role will be of the utmost importance as an operational manager in their use and in performance monitoring; (c) these devices will allow an increase in working capacity and facilitate integration. All those involved in the study believe that the proposed electronic survey has proved to be a useful and effective tool that can be useful as a periodic monitoring tool and useful for scientific societies. Conclusions: The evolution of social robots represents an unstoppable process as does the increase in the aging of the population. Stakeholders must not look with suspicion toward these devices, which can represent an important resource, but rather invest in monitoring and consensus training initiatives.

Effect of the extract of dry Serratula centauroides on the behavior of white rats in tests with positive reinforcement

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-242
Author(s):  
Yanina G. Razuvaeva ◽  
Kristina V. Markova ◽  
Anyuta A. Toropova ◽  
Daniil N. Olennikov
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
Conditioned Reflex ◽  
Positive Reinforcement ◽  
Leaf Extract ◽  
Pronounced Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning Criterion ◽  
Control Value ◽  
White Rats ◽  
Rapid Formation

The effect was studied of dry leaf extract of Serratula centauroides L. on the behavior of white rats (Wistar) in tests with positive reinforcement. It was revealed that the extract of S. centauroides at doses of 50200 mg/kg promotes in animals a decrease in the level of anxiety, adaptation to unfamiliar conditions, and as a consequence, to an increase in the volume of food intake. And also a more rapid formation of a conditioned reflex with positive reinforcement. In animals treated with S. centauroides extract, the volume of food taken in hypophagia test was 1.42.7 times higher than the control value. In the T-shaped maze, 5080% of the animals in the experimental groups developed a conditioned reflex to positive reinforcement, while none of the animals in the control group reached the learning criterion. The S. centauroides extract showed the most pronounced effect on the behavior of animals in tests with positive reinforcement at a dose of 100 mg/kg.

The Rights of (Social) Robots

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Gunkel
Keyword(s):  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Legal Standing ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Robot Rights

A number of recent publications have examined and advanced the concept of robot rights. These investigations have been largely theoretical and speculative. This paper seeks to move the debate about the moral and legal standing of social robots out of the realm of theory. It does so by investigating what rights a social robot would need to have in order to facilitate responsible integration of these technologies into our world. The analysis, therefore, seeks to formulate practical guidance for developing an intelligent and executable plan for culturally sustainable social robots.

Object Recognition Pipeline

2018 ◽  
pp. 18-33
Author(s):  
John Alejandro Castro Vargas ◽  
Alberto Garcia Garcia ◽  
Sergiu Oprea ◽  
Sergio Orts Escolano ◽  
Jose Garcia Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Degree Of Disability ◽  
Domestic Environments ◽  
Domestic Assistance

Object grasping in domestic environments using social robots has an enormous potential to help dependent people with a certain degree of disability. In this chapter, the authors make use of the well-known Pepper social robot to carry out such task. They provide an integrated solution using ROS to recognize and grasp simple objects. That system was deployed on an accelerator platform (Jetson TX1) to be able to perform object recognition in real time using RGB-D sensors attached to the robot. By using the system, the authors prove that the Pepper robot shows a great potential for such domestic assistance tasks.

scholarly journals Social robots: The influence of human and robot characteristics on acceptance

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 346-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bishop ◽  
Anouk van Maris ◽  
Sanja Dogramadzi ◽  
Nancy Zook
Keyword(s):  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
User Characteristics ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Robot Acceptance ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Explicit Measures

AbstractResearch in social robotics is focused on the development of robots that can provide physical and cognitive support in a socially interactive way. Whilst some studies have previously investigated the importance of user characteristics (age, gender, education, robot familiarity, mood) in the acceptance of social robots as well as the influence a robot’s displayed emotion (positive, negative, neutral) has on the interaction, these two aspects are rarely combined. Therefore, this study attempts to highlight the need to consider the influence that both human and robot attributes can have on social robot acceptance. Eighty-six participants completed implicit and explicit measures of mood before viewing one of three video clips containing a positive, negative or neutral social robot (Pepper) followed by questionnaires on robot acceptance and perception. Gender and education were not associated with acceptance; however, several constructs of the acceptance questionnaire significantly correlated with age and mood. For example, those younger and those experiencing sadness or loneliness were more dependent on the opinions of others (as measured by the social influence construct of the acceptance questionnaire). This highlights the importance of mood in the introduction of social robots into vulnerable populations. Robot familiarity also correlated with robot acceptance with those more familiar finding the robot less useful and less enjoyable, this is important as robots become more prominent in society. Displayed robot emotion significantly influenced acceptance and perception with the positive robot appearing more childlike than the negative and neutral robot, and the neutral robot the least helpful. These findings emphasise the importance of both user and robot characteristics in the successful integration of social robots.

Effects of Peer Encouragement on Efficacy Perceptions and Physical Performance in Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-322
Author(s):  
Kira L. Innes ◽  
Jeffrey D. Graham ◽  
Steven R. Bray
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Physical Performance ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Mental Fatigue ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Physical Task ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Experimental Group

Social interactions are theorized to inform relation-inferred self-efficacy (RISE), which, in turn, may influence self-efficacy and behavior. This study investigated the effects of peer encouragement on RISE, task self-efficacy, and physical performance. Children (N = 84) were assigned to dyads and randomized to provide peer encouragement to one another or not (control group). Participants completed two endurance handgrip trials, separated by a cognitively demanding task intended to induce mental fatigue and increase the salience of the peer encouragement manipulation. Participants in the experimental group exchanged words of encouragement prior to the second endurance trial, whereas those in the control group did not. The peer encouragement group reported higher RISE and showed increased performance across trials compared with controls. Providing peer encouragement prior to a challenging physical task was associated with more positive RISE perceptions and improved physical performance.

scholarly journals Systematic Generation of a 3D DSM by Extracting Social Robot Behaviors from Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3731-3740
Author(s):  
Ilayda Ozer ◽  
Zuhal Erden
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Direct Communication ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Physical Elements ◽  
People Today

AbstractSocial robots are in direct communication and interaction with people, thus it is important to design these robots for different needs of individuals or small groups. This has revealed the need to develop design methods for personalized or mass-individualized social robots, which are expected to respond to many different needs of people today and in the future. In this paper, a previously developed 3D DSM model is implemented in the systematic conceptual design of social robot families. The model is independent of any physical elements and based on behavioural elements as perception, cognition and motoric action. The data regarding 45 different social robots from 80 articles in the literature is used to identify these three behaviours of the existing social robots and the mutual relationships among these different behaviours are defined in order to develop a 3D DSM structure to be used as a basis for designing social robot families. The resulting novel 3D DSM is a general-purpose, basic model that can be used to identify behavioural modules to design social robot families.

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