A Motivational Case Study in Social Robotics

Abstract

Different social environments have been used, in recent times, as contexts for interaction by social robotics such as children in hospitals or classrooms with positive results. Recently, the MOnarCH project explored the formation of social relations between a robot and users, namely children, in the Pediatrics ward of an Oncological hospital. This robot can navigate autonomously in the available free space, interacting with basic verbal and non-verbal utterances, explicitly when someone is recognized or touches it. The chapter shows the design process of MOnarCH which is carried out in three phases: Conceptual, Production, and Deployment and Evaluation. The main intention is to understand how the system can be designed to best suit the people and the society who need to use it and include the necessary flexibility for a posteriori behavioral adjustment. Annotated video recordings and micro-behaviors that were used in some of the experiments asserts that MOnarCH is simply a playmate for a physically and emotionally fragile population, a new experience that does not replace healthcare professionals. The empirical evidence suggests that the vast majority of children surveyed had the correct perception that the robot was not alive. Nevertheless, children acknowledged the robot’s presence in the Pediatrics ward and the liveliness features implemented positively.