Related papers: Toward Anxiety-Reducing Pocket Robots for Children
In this exploratory study we assessed how attitudes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) towards robots together with children's autism-related social impairments are linked to indicators of children's preference of an…
This paper refers to an observational research that investigates preschool children's mental representations of robots. Our hypotheses were that: a) three to six years-old children think about robots as human-like entities, concerning to…
Parent-child interaction is critical for child development, yet parents may need guidance in some aspects of their engagement with their children. Current research on educational math robots focuses on child-robot interactions but falls…
This research addressed whether interactions with social robots could facilitate joint attention of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two conditions of initiators, namely 'Human' vs. 'Robot' were measured with 15 children with ASD and 15…
Children can find it challenging to communicate their emotions especially when experiencing mental health challenges. Technological solutions may help children communicate digitally and receive support from one another as advances in…
As social robots become increasingly prevalent in day-to-day environments, they will participate in conversations and appropriately manage the information shared with them. However, little is known about how robots might appropriately…
Affective tactile interaction constitutes a fundamental component of human communication. In natural human-human encounters, touch is seldom experienced in isolation; rather, it is inherently multisensory. Individuals not only perceive the…
Emotion expression is central to human--robot interaction, yet little is known about how people interpret affect on robots with sparse, non-anthropomorphic expressive capabilities. This study examined how people perceive emotional…
Neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), frequently experience anxiety, panic attacks, meltdowns, and emotional dysregulation due to societal pressures and inadequate…
This paper introduces the project Social Assistive Robotics for Autistic Children aimed at using robotic therapy for autism. The goal of the project is testing autistic children's interactions with the social robot NAO. In particular the…
Facial expressiveness plays a crucial role in a robot's ability to engage and interact with children. Prior research has shown that expressive robots can enhance child engagement during human-robot interactions. However, many robots used in…
Social robots hold promise for reducing job interview anxiety, yet designing agents that provide both psychological safety and instructional guidance remains challenging. Through a three-phase iterative design study (N = 8), we empirically…
This study aimed to develop a system that provides vibrotactile feedback corresponding to the emotional content of text when a communication robot speaks. We used OpenAI's "GPT-4o Mini" for emotion estimation, extracting valence and arousal…
This study presents novel strategies to investigate the mutual influence of trust and group dynamics in children-robot interaction. We implemented a game-like experimental activity with the humanoid robot iCub and designed a questionnaire…
Imitation plays an important role in development, being one of the precursors of social cognition. Even though some children with autism imitate spontaneously and other children with autism can learn to imitate, the dynamics of imitation is…
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…
Robots are becoming more capable and can autonomously perform tasks such as navigating between locations. However, human oversight remains crucial. This study compared two touchless methods for directing mobile robots: voice control and…
We present and evaluate a prototype social robot to encourage daily exercise among older adults in a home setting. Our prototype system, designed to lead users through exercise sessions with motivational feedback, was assessed through a…
Providing effective, personalized support is critical for helping students overcome conceptual difficulties in physics. However, established scaffolding methods, such as structured tiered support, are often too resource-intensive for…
Assistive and Wearable Robotics have the potential to support humans with different types of motor impairments to become independent and fulfil their activities of daily living successfully. The success of these robot systems, however,…