Robot Assistance in Playful Environment - User Trials and Results (original) (raw)

A toy robot for physically disabled children

Technology and Disability, 2004

The aim of this project is to explore how children with physical disabilities could use a toy robot system for autonomous playing. Children with physical disabilities have difficulties interacting with the material environment and they have fewer possibilities for autonomous play. This paper reports the developmental process of a robot system and results of the first user trials with this system and the target group. Working with this toy robot system allows children with physical disabilities to independently manipulate the real objects in a play situation. Future development is outlined.

Playrob-robot-assisted playing for children with severe physical disabilities

… Robotics, 2005. …, 2005

From a developmental and educational perspective, play is a "natural" way in which children learn in an enjoyable manner. This paper aims to describe one possible contribution of selected robotics technology and automation for making toys available to children with severe physical disabilities. This work is mainly based on a qualitative study which is aimed to analyse how children with physical disabilities play in comparison with normal children. One particular result of this study is a dedicated robot system which supports children with the above mentioned disabilities for interaction with standard toys being realized by ARC Seibersdorf research GmbH. Besides of a description of the robot system the paper gives first results from user trials and outlines future development.

PlayROB - Robot-Assisted Playing for Children with Severe Physical Handicaps

9th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2005. ICORR 2005., 2005

From a developmental and educational perspective, play is a "natural" way in which children learn in an enjoyable manner. This paper aims to describe one possible contribution of selected robotics technology and automation for making toys available to children with severe physical disabilities. This work is mainly based on a qualitative study which is aimed to analyse how children with physical disabilities play in comparison with normal children. One particular result of this study is a dedicated robot system which supports children with the above mentioned disabilities for interaction with standard toys being realized by ARC Seibersdorf research GmbH. Besides of a description of the robot system the paper gives first results from user trials and outlines future development.

Robot Assisted Playing for Severe Physically Handicapped Children

2000

The importance of playing for the cerebral development of children is well- known since many years. This paper addresses the central role of robotics and automation for making toys available to children with severe physical handicaps in order to provide this user group with comparable possibilities to share these experiences. A qualitative study has been carried out in order to

Robot Assistant "PlayROB" - User Trials and Results

RO-MAN 2007 - The 16th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2007

Playing is an important part of daily life interactions as well as a substantial and joyful part in the life of children. It can be relaxing, excitingchildren can play a role and it is an important possibility to get in touch with other children. In this paper the setup and results of user trials with a dedicated robot are described. The robot system "PlayROB", developed by the authors, aims to support children with severe physical impairments for interaction with standard toys. Six of such systems have been installed at three Austrian special schools for a long term trialsthe results from this two-years field study are discussed in the paper together with a describtion of future development.

Educational Robotics as a Learning Aid for Disabled Children

Severe disabled children have little chance of environmental and social exploration and discovery, and due this lack of interaction and independency, it may lead to an idea that they are unable to do anything by themselves. This idea is called "learned helplessness" and is very negative for the child cognitive development and social development as well. With this entire situation it is very likely that the self-steam and mood of this child.

Scenarios of robot-assisted play for children with cognitive and physical disabilities

2012

This article presents a set of play scenarios for robot assisted play for children with disabilities. This work was developed as part of the pan-European IROMEC project that investigated how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents etc). The target user groups in the project were children with Mild Mental Retardation 1 , children with Severe Motor Impairment and children with Autism. The play scenarios were developed against specific educational and therapeutic objectives that were discussed with panels of experts (teachers therapists parents) in various countries, during several user panel meetings for each of the above mentioned target user groups. These objectives were classified with reference to the ICF-CY, the International Classification of Functioning -version for Children and Youth. The article presents a set of play scenarios, each with its relevant educational and therapeutic objectives in five key developmental areas (i.e sensory development, communication and interaction, cognitive development, motor development and social and emotional development). Although the play scenarios presented in this paper originally were developed for and tested with the above user groups and with the IROMEC robot, the play scenarios may be considered for use with other user groups or in other applications involving human-robot interaction and with other robotic toys.

Robot enhanced interaction and learning for children with profound physical disabilities

Technology and Disability, 2001

The goal of this study was to explore how children who have significant physical disabilities could use a robotic arm to interact in a play and exploration activity. These children cannot manipulate toys and other objects to engage in typical play activities with adults or their peers. A robotic arm was used to provide an alternative method to engage in joint play activities. Using the robotic arm, these children were able to engage in play with an adult. For successful play experiences, this activity required manipulation of objects in sequence and turn taking with the adult. Children were able to experience, independently, the mediated manipulation of real objects in the context of a play activity. They demonstrated an ability to interact and to carryout a sequence of steps to complete a play task.

Using Robots to Access Play at Different Developmental Levels for Children with Severe Disabilities: A Pilot Study

2015

Children who have severe physical disabilities may have difficulty participating in play activities. The use of robots can promote and facilitate play for children with disabilities. Robot play could give insight to the developmental level of play of children with disabilities who are difficult to assess with standardized tests. The purpose of this study was to develop scenarios with and without a robot where children could demonstrate play at different developmental levels. Validation of the scenarios was done through direct observation of 10 typically developing children playing with and without a robot with conventional toys and unstructured materials. A play coding system was used to classify the levels of play (no play, functional play or pretend play). Analysis showed that the scenarios could elicit play as expected (young children did more functional play and older children did more pretend play). However, children presented less pretend play with the robot than they did with...