Socially Assistive Robots Research Articles

Robotics and cbt and entertainment in the enhancement of children with asd, mental disorders, dysfunctional emotions and irrational beliefs

Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently present symptoms of various mental disorders along with the features that define ASD. Problems with anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, cognitive problems, such as deficits in theory of mind, and associated behavioral problems, occur in children with autism of all ages [5]. In recent years, the application of robots in therapeutic interventions for children with neurodevelopment disorders and more specifically in children with ASD, has aroused the interest of the robotic community and experts in the field of autism [3]. Socially Assistive Robots are promising in their potential to promote and support mental health in children with ASD. There is a growing number of studies investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of robot interventions in supporting children’s mental wellbeing, such as helping in anxiety, depression and socio-emotional problems [3, 4]. Several authors have also suggested Cognitive and Behavior Therapy (CBT) as a very useful intervention therapy, which can apply in combination with a social assistive robot [5, 6, 8]. CBT has specific strategies that can be very supportive and particularly useful for individual’s problems. Many applications of this combination have shown substantial improvements in stress management, contextualized emotion recognition and theory of mind. With a coordinated effort, robot, cbt techniques and collaboration with mental health consultants, children with ASD can improve their social, emotional and behavioral competence [5].

Socially-Assistive Robots Using Empathy untuk Mengurangi Nyeri dan Distress selama Pemasangan IV Line Perifer pada Anak

<p><strong><em>Background</em></strong>: <em>Painful medical procedures such as insertion of a peripheral IV line in a child can have long-lasting effects, such as increased sensitivity to future painful stimuli, avoidance of medical treatment, or posttraumatic distress. In nursing science, pain reduction in children can be done by using distraction techniques. In the era of 4.0, the use of robots in helping nurse care is no stranger. Socially-Assistive Robots are a type of social robot that has been used in helping children with ASD, cancer, cerebral palsy and even the elderly. <strong>Objective</strong>: To provide an overview and ideas from the results of a literature review about the possibility of applying Socially-Assistive Robots Using Empathy to reduce pain and distress during peripheral IV line insertion in children. <strong>Discussion</strong>: From the results of the study and review of 12 selected journals, it is concluded that Socially-Assistive Robots Using Empathy is a technology that needs to be developed and applied. <strong>Recommendation</strong>: It is hoped that Socially-Assistive Robots Using Empathy will be present in Indonesia and future researchers can test its effectiveness</em>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong><em>Socially-Assistive Robots, pain, distress, IV line insertion</em></p>

Supporting Older Family Caregivers of Young Adults with IDD: A Pilot Program with Socially Assistive Robotics

Introduction: The need for caregiver respite is well-documented for the care of persons with IDD. Social Assistive Robotics (SAR) offer promise in addressing the need for caregiver respite through ‘complementary caregiving’ activities that promote engagement and learning opportunities for a care recipient (CR) with IDD. This study explored the acceptability and usefulness of a SAR caregiver respite program responsive to feedback from both the CRs and their older family caregivers (age 55+). Methods: Caregiver-CR dyads (N =11) were recruited. A mixed methods research design was deployed in three phases: Phase I with four focus groups to inform the program design; Phase II for program demonstration and evaluation with pre- and post-surveys; and Phase III with post-program interviews for feedback and suggestions. Results: Quantitative data analysis in Phase II showed both caregivers and their CRs scored favorably the social presence of the robot (Pepper) and social engagement with Pepper. Caregivers also reported positive perceptions of Pepper in terms of anthropomorphism, animation, likeability, intelligence, and safety. Content analysis from Phase III interviews suggested that the SAR may offer physical/emotional respite to caregivers by providing companionship/friendship as well as promoting independence, safety/monitoring, and interactive engagement with children. Discussion: SAR has potential in providing respite for older family caregiver demonstrated by the levels of CR engagement and learning with Pepper. Future studies need a longer program design and larger sample size to test the feasibility and efficacy of the intervention.

The role of a socially assistive robot in enabling older adults with mild cognitive impairment to cope with the measures of the COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory containment measures led to lockdowns and severely diminished social interaction, with older adults being one vulnerable group. Socially assistive robots (SARs) could prove to be an effective intervention. Objectives To explore the experiences of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with a SAR during the first lockdown in Belgium. Methods Inductive thematic analysis was used. After a two-week interaction period with robot James®, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results Four people were interviewed (median: 86 years; range: 70–90 years; 2 men, 2 women). Four themes were identified. The first theme described the robot as a companion, alleviating feelings of loneliness and social isolation. The second theme explored the robot in light of meaningful activity. The third theme detailed the technical aspects of the robot and the fourth theme described notable barriers and areas of improvement. Conclusion The study demonstrated the potential of SARs during the first lockdown period in Belgium. The robot proved to be promising in terms of alleviating feelings of loneliness and social isolation. It was found to be both motivating and facilitating in terms of meaningful activity. Significance The study provided valuable insights for the care of lonely and occupationally deprived older adults.

Extending the Evaluation of Social Assistive Robots With Accessibility Indicators: The AUSUS Evaluation Framework

The introduction of robots in the real world requires previous evaluation of the envisaged performance. Factors like usability, user experience, social acceptance, or societal impact, among others, have been taken into account in evaluation frameworks defined during the last years. However, one of the most important factors that need to be evaluated in any kind of interaction is whether all the users are able to work with the system with the same opportunities and easiness, and none of the current human–robot interaction (HRI) evaluation frameworks include this factor yet. This article proposes an extension of a popular HRI evaluation framework, including accessibility as a new evaluation factor. The proposed approach, named AUSUS, considers Accessibility, Usability, Social acceptance, User experience, and Societal impact. This article presents a use case of the framework, which is evaluated through a socially assistive robotic platform created to perform comprehensive geriatric assessment: the CLARC system. The details of the evaluation process in a hospital and a retirement home are reported, and the main difficulties and recommendations of using AUSUS are discussed.

Psychosocial effects of the humanoid socially assistive robot Coach Pepper on informal caregivers of people with dementia: A mixed‐methods study

AbstractBackgroundDementia care is largely provided by informal caregivers, which can present significant challenges and increase caregivers’ burden. Humanoid socially assistive robots (SARs) have the potential to provide assistance, but evidence is missing. The aim was to explore the psychosocial effects of Coach Pepper (humanoid SAR system “AMIGO” combined with a tablet PC‐based dementia training) versus an exclusive tablet PC‐based dementia training on informal caregivers of people with dementia living at home (as well as their experiences).MethodA randomized controlled trial with a complementary qualitative part was performed (May 2019‐March 2020). 32 informal caregivers of people with dementia living at home participated in the study. The intervention group received Coach Pepper and the control group received only the tablet‐based dementia training. The duration of the intervention was three weeks per household. Data was collected at baseline and after the intervention by standardized questionnaires for caregiver burden (primary outcome), quality of life, depressive symptoms and affect. Additionally, interviews about caregivers’ experiences were conducted in the intervention group.ResultParticipants were on average 58.2 (±12.5) years old and predominantly female (68.8%). Quality of life, depressive symptoms and affect demonstrated no significant differences regarding between‐group mean changes, neither did caregivers’ burden, which showed decreasing tendencies of burden in the intervention and control group (Zarit Burden Interview, ‐2.7±8.7 vs. ‐4.4±6.4, p=0.2552). Qualitative findings revealed that participants had positive attitudes regarding Coach Pepper and experienced it as neutral in terms of burden. Some stated that Coach Pepper provided relief/more free time by entertaining the persons with dementia. However, some participants stated that they had to invest additional time until the person with dementia was able to engage with Coach Pepper and that its usability should be improved in certain areas (e.g., communication) to constitute more support for caregivers.ConclusionCoach Pepper had no significant psychosocial effects on informal caregivers of people with dementia. Qualitative findings demonstrated the participants' positive attitudes but highlighted a need for improvement regarding its usability. This study contributes to the development/modification of Coach Pepper based on caregivers’ needs in dementia care.

Influence of a Socially Assistive Robot on Physical Activity, Social Play Behavior, and Toy-Use Behaviors of Children in a Free Play Environment: A Within-Subjects Study.

Background: Play is critical for children’s physical, cognitive, and social development. Technology-based toys like robots are especially of interest to children. This pilot study explores the affordances of the play area provided by developmentally appropriate toys and a mobile socially assistive robot (SAR). The objective of this study is to assess the role of the SAR on physical activity, play behavior, and toy-use behavior of children during free play. Methods: Six children (5 females, Mage = 3.6 ± 1.9 years) participated in the majority of our pilot study’s seven 30-minute-long weekly play sessions (4 baseline and 3 intervention). During baseline sessions, the SAR was powered off. During intervention sessions, the SAR was teleoperated to move in the play area and offered rewards of lights, sounds, and bubbles to children. Thirty-minute videos of the play sessions were annotated using a momentary time sampling observation system. Mean percentage of time spent in behaviors of interest in baseline and intervention sessions were calculated. Paired-Wilcoxon signed rank tests were conducted to assess differences between baseline and intervention sessions. Results: There was a significant increase in children’s standing (∼15%; Z = −2.09; p = 0.037) and a tendency for less time sitting (∼19%; Z = −1.89; p = 0.059) in the intervention phase as compared to the baseline phase. There was also a significant decrease (∼4.5%, Z = −2.70; p = 0.007) in peer interaction play and a tendency for greater (∼4.5%, Z = −1.89; p = 0.059) interaction with adults in the intervention phase as compared to the baseline phase. There was a significant increase in children’s interaction with the robot (∼11.5%, Z = −2.52; p = 0.012) in the intervention phase as compared to the baseline phase. Conclusion: These results may indicate that a mobile SAR provides affordances through rewards that elicit children’s interaction with the SAR and more time standing in free play. This pilot study lays a foundation for exploring the role of SARs in inclusive play environments for children with and without mobility disabilities in real-world settings like day-care centers and preschools.

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

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).

Mobile, Socially Assistive Robots Incorporating Approach Behaviour: Requirements for Successful Dialogue with Dementia Patients in a Nursing Home

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using a mobile socially assistive robot (SAR) that incorporates approach behaviour (APB) for seniors. The participants were 15 residents in a nursing home. The effectiveness of dialogue with participants was compared for two types of SARs: stationary and mobile. Interactions were also examined to determine the factors that led to the success or failure of the dialogue based on the trajectory of the mobile SARs and observations of the participants’ behaviour with the mobile SARs. The results showed that nine of 15 participants (60 %) engaged in dialogue with mobile SARs, which was twice as effective as stationary SARs. Conversely, some participants could not engage in dialogue when using a mobile SAR. In addition, these participants’ The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were low. These participants’ successful dialogues were influenced by the angle at which the mobile SAR approached the participant and the length of time the mobile SAR and the participant were face to face. In this study, it was shown that the introduction of mobile SARs in a nursing home could facilitate communication between SARs and residents and further contribute to the quality of life of residents.

A qualitative exploration of care homes workers' views and training needs in relation to the use of socially assistive humanoid robots in their workplace.

The study aimed to explore the views and attitudes of care home workers about the socially assistive robot that was trialled in their workplace, in order to identify training needs in relation to the hypothetical future use of these robots in their workplace. Care home workers face challenging workload conditions which may require the exploration of new solutions such as the use of socially assistive robots (SARs). This is a qualitative descriptive study which used semi-structured interviews. Care home workers (n=23) in the UK participated in the study, and data collection took place between October 2019 and January 2020. NVivo software was used for data management, and a thematic inductive analysis was conducted. Findings indicated that many participants were open to the use of robots and valued the potential usefulness of SARs in the care setting. However, some participants showed resistance to the use of robots and did not feel comfortable with the idea of working alongside them. Participants wished to receive technical training that would enable them to be competent in using SARs. Participants took seriously their duty of care to the older people and thus wanted to ensure that the use of the SAR would not negatively impact on the care being provided. Robots were viewed as having potential to be supplementary to human carers, such as sharing the workload and improving upon the care already being provided. Care home workers express both positive and negative views in relation to the hypothetical future deployment of socially assistive humanoid robots in their workplace. The findings highlighted the importance of values around person-centred care which should be taken into account when planning for the implementation of robots in social care settings and training care home workers in how to work with robots.

Enabling Security Services in Socially Assistive Robot Scenarios for Healthcare Applications.

Today’s IoT deployments are highly complex, heterogeneous and constantly changing. This poses severe security challenges such as limited end-to-end security support, lack of cross-platform cross-vertical security interoperability as well as the lack of security services that can be readily applied by security practitioners and third party developers. Overall, these require scalable, decentralized and intelligent IoT security mechanisms and services which are addressed by the SecureIoT project. This paper presents the definition, implementation and validation of a SecureIoT-enabled socially assisted robots (SAR) usage scenario. The aim of the SAR scenario is to integrate and validate the SecureIoT services in the scope of personalized healthcare and ambient assistive living (AAL) scenarios, involving the integration of two AAL platforms, namely QTrobot (QT) and CloudCare2U (CC2U). This includes risk assessment of communications security, predictive analysis of security risks, implementing access control policies to enhance the security of solution, and auditing of the solution against security, safety and privacy guidelines and regulations. Future perspectives include the extension of this security paradigm by securing the integration of healthcare platforms with IoT solutions, such as Healthentia with QTRobot, by means of a system product assurance process for cyber-security in healthcare applications, through the PANACEA toolkit.

Designing Acceptable Robots for Assisting Older Adults: A Pilot Study on the Willingness to Interact.

The aim of this paper was to explore the psychosocial determinants that lead to acceptability and willingness to interact with a service robot, starting with an analysis of older users’ behaviors toward the Robot-Era platform, in order to provide strategies for the promotion of social assistive robotics. A mixed-method approach was used to collect information on acceptability, usability, and human–robot interaction, by analyzing nonverbal behaviors, emotional expressions, and verbal communication. The study involved 35 older adults. Twenty-two were women and thirteen were men, aged 73.8 (±6) years old. Video interaction analysis was conducted to capture the users’ gestures, statements, and expressions. A coded scheme was designed on the basis of the literature in the field. Percentages of time and frequency of the selected events are reported. The statements of the users were collected and analyzed. The results of the behavioral analysis reveal a largely positive attitude, inferred from nonverbal clues and nonverbal emotional expressions. The results highlight the need to provide robotic solutions that respect the tasks they offer to the users It is necessary to give older consumers dedicated training in technological literacy to guarantee proper, long-lasting, and successful use.

Action recognition for educational proposals applying concepts of Social Assistive Robotics

Action recognition has been gaining interest in research due to its great number of applications. So, the main contribution of this manuscript is a human–robot interaction framework, relying on dimension reduction of the system’s inputs in order to require a smaller dataset for training of an Artificial Neural Network. Our motivation is the development of a Social Assistive Robotics application. In summary, we choose nine standard actions to guide a robot, and two neutral ones to represent stand-by or resting cases. The dataset is created by people with different body shape, for robustness purposes, using only 5 to 10 samples of each class per person. Offline and online tests validate the method’s accuracy and confusion matrices clarify the results. A TicTacToe game using a ground robot exemplify a real world application, where each action represents a desired spot in the game. The results confirm a high accuracy, above 96.7%, in all the tests. Based on this, we can conclude our preprocessing strategy and classifier are capable of identifying the action patterns, even for a tiny dataset; thus, it is recommended for educational proposals due to its simplicity.

Designing a Socially Assistive Robot for Education Through a Participatory Design Approach: Pivotal Principles for the Developers

Designing a Socially Assistive Robot for Education Through a Participatory Design Approach: Pivotal Principles for the Developers

Robot-Assisted Gait Self-Training: Assessing the Level Achieved.

This paper presents the technological status of robot-assisted gait self-training under real clinical environment conditions. A successful rehabilitation after surgery in hip endoprosthetics comprises self-training of the lessons taught by physiotherapists. While doing this, immediate feedback to the patient about deviations from the expected physiological gait pattern during training is important. Hence, the Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) developed for this type of training employs task-specific, user-centered navigation and autonomous, real-time gait feature classification techniques to enrich the self-training through companionship and timely corrective feedback. The evaluation of the system took place during user tests in a hospital from the point of view of technical benchmarking, considering the therapists’ and patients’ point of view with regard to training motivation and from the point of view of initial findings on medical efficacy as a prerequisite from an economic perspective. In this paper, the following research questions were primarily considered: Does the level of technology achieved enable autonomous use in everyday clinical practice? Has the gait pattern of patients who used additional robot-assisted gait self-training for several days been changed or improved compared to patients without this training? How does the use of a SAR-based self-training robot affect the motivation of the patients?

Socially Assistive Robots Helping Older Adults through the Pandemic and Life after COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has critically impacted the health and safety of the population of the world, especially the health and well-being of older adults. Socially assistive robots (SARs) have been used to help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic including loneliness and isolation, and to alleviate the workload of both formal and informal caregivers. This paper presents the first extensive survey and discussion on just how socially assistive robots have specifically helped this population, as well as the overall impact on health and the acceptance of such robots during the pandemic. The goal of this review is to answer research questions with respect to which SARs were used during the pandemic and what specific tasks they were used for, and what the enablers and barriers were to the implementation of SARs during the pandemic. We will also discuss lessons learned from their use to inform future SAR design and applications, and increase their usefulness and adoption in a post-pandemic world. More research is still needed to investigate and appreciate the user experience of older adults with SARs during the pandemic, and we aim to provide a roadmap for researchers and stakeholders.

Factors Contributing to Korean Older Adults’ Acceptance of Assistive Social Robots

This study investigated the factors contributing to older adults’ acceptance of assistive social robots. A survey was conducted to find factors explaining and predicting older adults’ acceptance behavior of assistive social robots. Three factors of older adults’ needs for assistive social robots were found (advanced needs, social needs, and physiological needs) which integrated Maslow’s five levels of basic human needs. According to older adults’ self-reported scores, the most important needs were physiological needs, followed by advanced needs and social needs. A regression analysis showed that the advanced needs and social needs significantly influence older adults’ use intention of assistive social robots. The results can assist in the future design of assistive social robot functions and features targeting the older population.

Socially Assistive Robots for Dementia Care: Exploring Caregiver Perceptions of Use Cases and Acceptance.

As the older population increases, the number of persons living with dementia (PWD) will increase as well. Yet, at the same time, there are fewer health care professionals per care recipient. To address the rising demand on healthcare professionals and informal care partners of PWD, socially assistive robots (SARs) can potentially facilitate care provision. It is crucial to understand the divergent tasks of these two caregiver groups so that the SAR's intervention can meet each group's needs. This qualitative study investigated and compared both caregiver groups' acceptance of a SAR. Six use cases involving a SAR (NAO, SoftBank) were demonstrated to both caregiver groups (N=20 persons). Both groups expressed willingness to adopt such technology and found that it could be useful in dementia care. However, participants' perceptions varied by task. Results indicate that healthcare professionals focused more on the assistive aspects, whereas care partners focused more on the social aspects of the SAR.

Acceptability of Socially Assistive Robots Among Cognitively Intact Older Adults: An Integrative Review.

An aging population and technology are two rapidly evolving phenomena occurring simultaneously worldwide. To examine the literature on the acceptability of socially assistive robots (SAR) among cognitively intact older adults, an integrative review of the literature was performed using Whittemore and Knafl's approach. Electronic databases searched included CINAHL, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library. Review was limited to peer-reviewed articles published between 2013 and 2019, in or translated into English language, and included evaluation of the robot within a social context in older adults aged ≥60 years with intact cognition. A total of five articles were included in the review. There were 125 male and female participants in all studies, and the mean age of participants ranged from 66.3 to 77.1 years. The robots studied varied in design and functionality. Findings showed older adults who are cognitively intact find SAR easy to use and useful, suggesting acceptability of SAR. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 47(9), 49-54.].

The ethical issues of social assistive robotics: A critical literature review

Along with its potential contributions to the practice of care, social assistive robotics raises significant ethical issues. The growing development of this technoscientific field of intelligent robotics has thus triggered a widespread proliferation of ethical attention towards its disruptive potential. However, the current landscape of ethical debate is fragmented and conceptually disordered, endangering ethics’ practical strength for normatively addressing these challenges. This paper presents a critical literature review of the ethical issues of social assistive robotics, which provides a comprehensive and intelligible overview of the current ethical approach to this technoscientific field. On the one hand, ethical issues have been identified, quantitatively analyzed and categorized in three main thematic groups. Namely: Well-being, Care, and Justice. On the other hand –and on the basis of some significant disclosed tendencies of the current approach–, future lines of research and issues regarding the enrichment of the ethical gaze on social assistive robotics have been identified and outlined.