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We explore natural user interactions using a virtual reality simulation of a robot arm for assembly tasks. Using a Wizard-of-Oz study, participants completed collaborative LEGO and instructive PCB assembly tasks, with the robot responding…
Integrating learning-based techniques, especially reinforcement learning, into robotics is promising for solving complex problems in unstructured environments. However, most existing approaches are trained in well-tuned simulators and…
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic affected our lives deeply, just like everyone else, the children also suffered from the restrictions due to COVID-19 affecting their education and social interactions with others, being restricted…
In order to demonstrate the limitations of assistive robotic capabilities in noisy real-world environments, we propose a Decision-Making Scenario analysis approach that examines the challenges due to user and environmental uncertainty, and…
Despite growing interest in Learning-by-Teaching (LbT), few studies have explored how this paradigm can be implemented with autonomous, peer-like social robots in real classrooms. Most prior work has relied on scripted or Wizard-of-Oz…
As robotic products become more integrated into daily life, there is a greater need to understand authentic and real-world human-robot interactions to inform product design. Across many domestic, educational, and public settings, robots…
Algorithmic thinking is a central concept in the context of computational thinking, and it is commonly taught by computer programming. A recent trend is to introduce basic programming concepts already very early on at primary school level.…
This paper explores the integration of AI tools, such as ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, in the Software Architecture for Embedded Systems course. AI-supported workflows enabled students to rapidly prototype complex projects, emphasizing…
A new and relatively unexplored research direction in robotics systems is the coordination of humans and robots working as a team. In this paper, we focus upon problem domains and tasks in which multiple robots, humans and other agents are…
Social robots are starting to become incorporated into daily lives by assisting in the promotion of physical and mental wellbeing. This paper investigates the use of social robots for delivering mindfulness sessions. We created a…
Social robots have been used to assist with mental well-being in various ways such as to help children with autism improve on their social skills and executive functioning such as joint attention and bodily awareness. They are also used to…
In this paper we present an integrated robotic system capable of participating in and performing a wide range of educational and entertainment tasks, in collaboration with one or more children. The system, called ChildBot, features…
Recent developments in foundation models, like Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs), trained on extensive data, facilitate flexible application across different tasks and modalities. Their impact spans various…
In current youth-care programs, children with needs (mental health, family issues, learning disabilities, and autism) receive support from youth and family experts as one-to-one assistance at schools or hospitals. Occasionally, social…
The present study introduces an Android based application that focuses on promoting students' learning experience when interacting with Lego Mindstorms Robotic Kit NXT. A thorough investigation of the current literature reveals that there…
Industrial robots typically require very structured and predictable working environments, and explicit programming, in order to perform well. Therefore, expensive and time-consuming engineering work is a major obstruction when mediating…
We examine the implementation of social robots in real-world settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we analyze the areas in which social robots are being adopted, the roles and tasks being fulfilled, and the robot models…
The role of robots is expanding from tool to collaborator. Socially assistive robots (SARs) are an example of collaborative robots that assist humans in the real world. As robots enter our social sphere, unforeseen risks occur during…
We reappraise the idea of colliding with robots, moving from a position that tries to avoid or mitigate collisions to one that considers them an important facet of human interaction. We report on a soma design workshop that explored how our…
Currently, robotics is one of the fastest growing areas not only in the industrial sector but also in the consumer and service sectors. Several areas benefit from the technological advancement of robotics, especially the industrial area…