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 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 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.

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.

scholarly journals The Fundamental Attribution Error in Human-Robot Interaction: An Experimental Investigation on Attributing Responsibility to a Social Robot for Its Pre-Programmed Behavior

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aike C. Horstmann ◽  
Nicole C. Krämer
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Fundamental Attribution Error ◽  
Online Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Attribution Error

AbstractSince social robots are rapidly advancing and thus increasingly entering people’s everyday environments, interactions with robots also progress. For these interactions to be designed and executed successfully, this study considers insights of attribution theory to explore the circumstances under which people attribute responsibility for the robot’s actions to the robot. In an experimental online study with a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design (N = 394), people read a vignette describing the social robot Pepper either as an assistant or a competitor and its feedback, which was either positive or negative during a subsequently executed quiz, to be generated autonomously by the robot or to be pre-programmed by programmers. Results showed that feedback believed to be autonomous leads to more attributed agency, responsibility, and competence to the robot than feedback believed to be pre-programmed. Moreover, the more agency is ascribed to the robot, the better the evaluation of its sociability and the interaction with it. However, only the valence of the feedback affects the evaluation of the robot’s sociability and the interaction with it directly, which points to the occurrence of a fundamental attribution error.

scholarly journals ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ROBOTIZATION OF THE SOCIAL SPHERE

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3(31)) ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Sargis L. Ghantarjyan ◽  
Rima M. Poghosyan
Keyword(s):  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Industrial Robots ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Cost Characteristics

The main goal of the article is to highlight the basic stages of the formation of a new direction in robotics, known as social, to show approaches in the classification of social robots, their scope of application. The main difference between social robots and industrial robots is their interactive interaction with humans. Descriptions of social robots have made, which used in various countries, their market prospects and individual cost characteristics. It is mentioned that the Armenian social robot ROBIN is a few times cheaper than similar foreign prototypes.

scholarly journals What Makes a Robot Social? A Review of Social Robots from Fiction to a Home or Hospital Near You

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Henschel ◽  
Guy Laban ◽  
Emily S. Cross
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Autonomous Robots ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Regular Feature ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Social

Purpose of review: We provide an outlook on the definitions, laboratory research, and applications of social robots, with an aim to understand what makes a robot social – in the eyes of science and the general public. Recent Findings: Social robots demonstrate their potential when deployed within contexts appropriate to their form and functions. Some examples include companions for the elderly and cognitively impaired individuals, robots within educational settings, and as tools to support cognitive and behavioural change interventions. Summary: Science fiction has inspired us to conceive of a future with autonomous robots helping with every aspect of our daily lives, although the robots we are familiar with through film and literature remain a vision of the distant future. While there are still miles to go before robots become a regular feature within our social spaces, rapid progress in social robotics research, aided by the social sciences, is helping to move us closer to this reality.

scholarly journals A Study on the Mechanism of Social Robot Attitude Formation through Consumer Gaze Analysis: Focusing on the Robot Face

2022 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 01017
Author(s):  
Sangjip Ha ◽  
Eun-ju Yi ◽  
In-jin Yoo ◽  
Do-Hyung Park
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Attitude Formation ◽  
Consumer Attitude ◽  
Robot Design ◽  
Gaze Tracking ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Consumer Beliefs ◽  
The Social

This study intends to utilize eye tracking for the appearance of a robot, which is one of the trends in social robot design research. We suggest a research model with the entire stage from the consumer gaze response to the perceived consumer beliefs and further their attitudes toward social robots. Specifically, the eye tracking indicators used in this study are Fixation, First Visit, Total Viewed Stay Time, and Number of Revisits. Also, Areas of Interest are selected to the face, eyes, lips, and full-body of a social robot. In the first relationship, we check which element of the social robot design the consumer’s gaze stays on, and how the gaze on each element affects consumer beliefs. The consumer beliefs are considered as the social robot’s emotional expression, humanness, and facial prominence. Second, we explore whether the formation of consumer attitudes is possible through two major channels. One is the path that the consumer beliefs formed through the gaze influence their attitude, and the other is the path that the consumer gaze response directly influences the attitude. This study made a theoretical contribution in that it finally analysed the path of consumer attitude formation from various angles by linking the gaze tracking reaction and consumer perception. In addition, it is expected to make practical contributions in the suggestion of specific design insights that can be used as a reference for designing social robots.

scholarly journals Projection of Social Burden of the Elderly in Japan Using INAHSIM-II

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Tetsuo Fukawa
Keyword(s):  
Living Arrangement ◽  
Relative Number ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Household Type ◽  
Social Burden ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
One Year ◽  
Elderly Living

By using a microsimulation model named INAHSIM, we conducted a household projection in Japan for the period of 2011–2060. Due to rapid aging of the population, the distribution of the elderly (65 years old or older) by living arrangement and dependency level has a profound impact on the future social burden. In this paper, we measured the social burden of the elderly by three variables: (1) institutionalization rate (percentage of the elderly living in institutions), (2) parent-child ratio (relative number of old parents taking into account the number of brothers and sisters), and (3) one-year transition matrix of the elderly by household type. Especially, the choice of the elderly among (a) living independently, (b) coresident with child households, and (c) moving to institutions are crucial indicators for the future social burden of the elderly in Japan.

Retirees without pensions and welfare: The social effects of pension privatization in Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Żuk ◽  
Paweł Żuk
Keyword(s):  
Pension System ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Complete Elimination ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
The Right

This article describes the chaos caused by the 1999 privatization of the pension system in Poland. The recent measures taken by the right-wing populist government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which reduced the retirement age and announced the complete elimination of ‘open’ (private) pension funds at the end of 2016, have not improved the situation of present and future retirees. Various forecasts show that the elderly will not be able to count on state aid in the future. The future of retired women (who tend to be less economically active) and those employed on ‘junk contracts’, from which social security contributions were not deducted, seems to be completely hopeless.

scholarly journals Artificial Intelligence in Digital Pathology: What Is the Future? Part 1: From the Digital Slide Onwards

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 858
Author(s):  
Maria Rosaria Giovagnoli ◽  
Daniele Giansanti
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Digital Pathology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Digital Slide ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Research Challenges ◽  
The Future

This commentary aims to address the field of Artificial intelligence (AI) in Digital Pathology (DP) both in terms of the global situation and research perspectives. It has four polarities. First, it revisits the evolutions of digital pathology with particular care to the two fields of the digital cytology and the digital histology. Second, it illustrates the main fields in the employment of AI in DP. Third, it looks at the future directions of the research challenges from both a clinical and technological point of view. Fourth, it discusses the transversal problems among these challenges and implications and introduces the immediate work to implement.

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