Robotics for Assisting Children with Physical and Cognitive Disabilities

2015 ◽  
pp. 78-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Tee Kit Tsun ◽  
Lau Bee Theng ◽  
Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo ◽  
Patrick Then Hang Hui
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Active Movement ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Passive Stretching ◽  
Locomotion Training

This chapter summarizes the findings of a study on robotics research and application for assisting children with disabilities between the years 2009 and 2013. The said disabilities include impairment of motor skills, locomotion, and social interaction that is commonly attributed to children suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Cerebral Palsy (CP). As opposed to assistive technologies for disabilities that largely account for restoration of physical capabilities, disabled children also require dedicated rehabilitation for social interaction and mental health. As such, the breadth of this study covers existing efforts in rehabilitation of both physical and socio-psychological domains, which involve Human-Robot Interaction. Overviewed topics include assisted locomotion training, passive stretching and active movement rehabilitation, upper-extremity motor function, social interactivity, therapist-mediators, active play encouragement, as well as several life-long assistive robotics in current use. This chapter concludes by drawing attention to ethical and adoption issues that may obstruct the field's effectiveness.

Robotics for Assisting Children with Physical and Cognitive Disabilities

2016 ◽  
pp. 953-995
Author(s):  
Mark Tee Kit Tsun ◽  
Lau Bee Theng ◽  
Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo ◽  
Patrick Then Hang Hui
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Active Movement ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Passive Stretching ◽  
Locomotion Training

This chapter summarizes the findings of a study on robotics research and application for assisting children with disabilities between the years 2009 and 2013. The said disabilities include impairment of motor skills, locomotion, and social interaction that is commonly attributed to children suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Cerebral Palsy (CP). As opposed to assistive technologies for disabilities that largely account for restoration of physical capabilities, disabled children also require dedicated rehabilitation for social interaction and mental health. As such, the breadth of this study covers existing efforts in rehabilitation of both physical and socio-psychological domains, which involve Human-Robot Interaction. Overviewed topics include assisted locomotion training, passive stretching and active movement rehabilitation, upper-extremity motor function, social interactivity, therapist-mediators, active play encouragement, as well as several life-long assistive robotics in current use. This chapter concludes by drawing attention to ethical and adoption issues that may obstruct the field's effectiveness.

scholarly journals Brain activity during reciprocal social interaction investigated using conversational robots as control condition

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1771) ◽  
pp. 20180033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Rauchbauer ◽  
Bruno Nazarian ◽  
Morgane Bourhis ◽  
Magalie Ochs ◽  
Laurent Prévot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Peripheral Blood Flow ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction

We present a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm for second-person neuroscience. The paradigm compares a human social interaction (human–human interaction, HHI) to an interaction with a conversational robot (human–robot interaction, HRI). The social interaction consists of 1 min blocks of live bidirectional discussion between the scanned participant and the human or robot agent. A final sample of 21 participants is included in the corpus comprising physiological (blood oxygen level-dependent, respiration and peripheral blood flow) and behavioural (recorded speech from all interlocutors, eye tracking from the scanned participant, face recording of the human and robot agents) data. Here, we present the first analysis of this corpus, contrasting neural activity between HHI and HRI. We hypothesized that independently of differences in behaviour between interactions with the human and robot agent, neural markers of mentalizing (temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex) and social motivation (hypothalamus and amygdala) would only be active in HHI. Results confirmed significantly increased response associated with HHI in the TPJ, hypothalamus and amygdala, but not in the medial prefrontal cortex. Future analysis of this corpus will include fine-grained characterization of verbal and non-verbal behaviours recorded during the interaction to investigate their neural correlates. This article is part of the theme issue ‘From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human–robot interaction'.

scholarly journals Multiscale Entropy Quantifies the Differential Effect of the Medium Embodiment on Older Adults Prefrontal Cortex during the Story Comprehension: A Comparative Analysis

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheil Keshmiri ◽  
Hidenobu Sumioka ◽  
Ryuji Yamazaki ◽  
Hiroshi Ishiguro
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Interactive Media ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Multiscale Entropy ◽  
Story Comprehension ◽  
Complementary Information ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Age Related

Todays’ communication media virtually impact and transform every aspect of our daily communication and yet the extent of their embodiment on our brain is unexplored. The study of this topic becomes more crucial, considering the rapid advances in such fields as socially assistive robotics that envision the use of intelligent and interactive media for providing assistance through social means. In this article, we utilize the multiscale entropy (MSE) to investigate the effect of the physical embodiment on the older people’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity while listening to stories. We provide evidence that physical embodiment induces a significant increase in MSE of the older people’s PFC activity and that such a shift in the dynamics of their PFC activation significantly reflects their perceived feeling of fatigue. Our results benefit researchers in age-related cognitive function and rehabilitation who seek for the adaptation of these media in robot-assistive cognitive training of the older people. In addition, they offer a complementary information to the field of human-robot interaction via providing evidence that the use of MSE can enable the interactive learning algorithms to utilize the brain’s activation patterns as feedbacks for improving their level of interactivity, thereby forming a stepping stone for rich and usable human mental model.

scholarly journals Imagining and tinkering with assistive robotics in care for the disabled

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Christian Mossfeldt Nickelsen
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Welfare Technology

Abstract The media and political-managerial levels focus on the opportunities to re-perform the Scandinavian welfare states through digitization. Especially in Denmark, this trend is prominent. Welfare technology is a Scandinavian notion used to point at assistive technologies intending to support the elderly, the disabled and care providers. Feeding assistive robotics (FAR) is a welfare technology relevant to citizens with no or low function in their arms. Despite national dissemination strategies, it proves difficult to recruit suitable users. There have been many promises for the potential of assistive robotics including more cost-efficient healthcare delivery, engaged patients and connected care providers. However, the realities of enacting assistive robotics, whether as patients or care providers, can be complicated in ways often unanticipated by government agencies and technology developers. This study discusses governmental agencies’ and technology developers’ visions with regard to what robotics may do and argues that these visions intertwine with affected stakeholders’ organizing of theirworlds. On this founding, the article discusses the resulting tinkering during implementation. The study exemplifies and demonstrates how ethnography can be used as an important method in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) research. The Actor Network Theory idea of ‘follow the actor’ inspired the study that took place as multi-sited ethnography at different locations in Denmark and Sweden. Based on desk research, observation of meals and interviews the study examines sociotechnical imaginaries and their practical and ethical implications.Human and FAR interaction demands engagement, sustained patience and understanding of the citizen’s particular body, identity and situation. The article contributes to the HRI literature by providing detailed empirical analysis based on an ethnographic studywhere political strategies, technology developers’ assumptions and affected stakeholders’ everyday hassles are in focus at the same time.

scholarly journals Robot Gaze Behavior Affects Honesty in Human-Robot Interaction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elef Schellen ◽  
Francesco Bossi ◽  
Agnieszka Wykowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Facial Cues ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Deceptive Behavior

As the use of humanoid robots proliferates, an increasing amount of people may find themselves face-to-“face” with a robot in everyday life. Although there is a plethora of information available on facial social cues and how we interpret them in the field of human-human social interaction, we cannot assume that these findings flawlessly transfer to human-robot interaction. Therefore, more research on facial cues in human-robot interaction is required. This study investigated deception in human-robot interaction context, focusing on the effect that eye contact with a robot has on honesty towards this robot. In an iterative task, participants could assist a humanoid robot by providing it with correct information, or potentially secure a reward for themselves by providing it with incorrect information. Results show that participants are increasingly honest after the robot establishes eye contact with them, but only if this is in response to deceptive behavior. Behavior is not influenced by the establishment of eye contact if the participant is actively engaging in honest behavior. These findings support the notion that humanoid robots can be perceived as, and treated like, social agents, since the herein described effect mirrors one present in human-human social interaction.

scholarly journals Development and Preliminary Investigation of a Semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) Designed to Elicit Communication, Motor Skills, Emotion, and Visual Regard (Engagement) from Young Children with Complex Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Comparative Trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Cecilia Clark ◽  
Levin Sliker ◽  
Jim Sandstrum ◽  
Brian Burne ◽  
Victoria Haggett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Comparative Trial ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Assistive Robotics ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Play Interactions ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Positive Engagement

Through play, typically developing children manipulate objects and interact with peers to establish and develop physical, cognitive, language, and social skills. However, children with complex disabilities and/or developmental delays have limited play experiences, thus compromising the quality of play and acquisition of skills. Assistive technologies have been developed to increase opportunities and level of interaction for children with disabilities to facilitate learning and development. One type of technology, Socially Assistive Robotics, is designed to assist the human user through social interaction while creating measurable growth in learning and rehabilitation. The investigators in this study designed, developed, and validated a semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot to compare with a switch-adapted toy to determine robot effectiveness in quantity of, changes in, and differences in engagement. After interacting with both systems for three sessions each, five of the eight subjects showed a greater level of positive engagement with the robot than the switch-adapted toy, while the remaining three subjects showed slightly higher positive engagement with the toy. The preliminary results of the study suggest that Socially Assistive Robots specifically designed for children with complex cerebral palsy should be further researched and utilized to enrich play interactions and skill development for this population.

The Application and Extension of the Human-Animal Team Model to Better Understand Human-Robot Interaction: Recommendations for Further Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1225-1229
Author(s):  
Katelynn A. Kapalo ◽  
Elizabeth Phillips ◽  
Stephen M. Fiore
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Basic Framework ◽  
Robot Teams ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Technological Constraints ◽  
Team Model ◽  
Research Recommendations

In order to create effective human-robot teams, robots must possess social capabilities that match the expectations of their human teammates. However the ability of robots to approximate human capacities is limited due to technological constraints. Human-animal teams have thus been suggested as a suitable analog for modeling teaming between humans and non-humans. Due to the limited capacity for animals to express their intentions, it follows that human-animal relationships can provide a basic framework for understanding how humans interpret information from teammates with limited social faculties. The purpose of this paper is provide research recommendations to identify specific areas in which human-animal teams can be used to model human-robot teams and to provide suggestions for investigating this model empirically in the context of social interaction.

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