Humans' Perception of a Robot Moving Using a Slow in and Slow Out Velocity Profile

© 2019 IEEE - All rights reservedHumans need to understand and trust the robots they are working with. We hypothesize that how a robot moves can impact people’s perception and their trust. We present a methodology for a study to explore people’s perception of a robot using the animation principle of slow in, slow out—to change the robot’s velocity profile versus a robot moving using a linear velocity profile. Study participants will interact with the robot within a home context to complete a task while the robot moves around the house. The participants’ perceptions of the robot will be recorded using the Godspeed Questionnaire. A pilot study shows that it is possible to notice the difference between the linear and the slow in, slow out velocity profiles, so the full experiment planned with participants will allow us to compare their perceptions based on the two observable behaviors.Final Accepted Versio

Analysis of the results from use of haptic peg-in-hole task for assessment in neurorehabilitation

Original article can be found at : http://iospress.metapress.com/ Copyright IOS PressHaptic and robotic technologies have the potential to provide assessment during interaction with humans. This manuscript presents our earlier research during the I-Match project where a haptic peg-in-hole test was used in order to compare between healthy volunteers' performance and those with neurological impairment. Subjects all performed a series of haptic virtual peg-in-hole tasks with varying degrees of difficulty determined by the hole diameter. Haptic instrument, Phantom Desktop 1.5, allowed for recording of biomechanical data which is used to present some variant features between the two subject groups. This paper analyses the placement time, maximum peg transfer velocity, collision forces recorded during peg placement and also insertion accuracy. The first three parameters showed statistically significant differences between the two groups while the last, insertion accuracy, showed insignificant differences (p = 0.152). This is thought to be due to the large clearance value between the smallest hole diameter and the peg. To identify differences between the haptic peg-in-hole and the established NHPT, we are currently in process of conducting a further experiment with a haptic replica of the NHPT test, in order to investigate effects resulting from addition of haptic force feedback compared to the original NHPT test, as well as allowing to explore influences caused by the 1 mm clearance value as originally proposed by Wade.Furthermore, in order to investigate if this method can identify differences between subjects with different neurological conditions, a larger group of subjects with neurological conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury is required to explore potency of this approach for identifying differences between these different conditions.Peer reviewe

Differences of Human Perceptions of a Robot Moving using Linear or Slow in, Slow out Velocity Profiles When Performing a Cleaning Task

We investigated how a robot moving with different velocity profiles affects a person's perception of it when working together on a task. The two profiles are the standard linear profile and a profile based on the animation principles of slow in, slow out. The investigation was accomplished by running an experiment in a home context where people and the robot cooperated on a clean-up task. We used the Godspeed series of questionnaires to gather people's perception of the robot. Average scores for each series appear not to be different enough to reject the null hypotheses, but looking at the component items provides paths to future areas of research. We also discuss the scenario for the experiment and how it may be used for future research into using animation techniques for moving robots and improving the legibility of a robot's locomotion

Would You Trust a (Faulty) Robot? : Effects of Error, Task Type and Personality on Human-Robot Cooperation and Trust

How do mistakes made by a robot affect its trustworthiness and acceptance in human-robot collaboration? We investigate how the perception of erroneous robot behavior may influence human interaction choices and the willingness to cooperate with the robot by following a number of its unusual requests. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment in which participants interacted with a home companion robot in one of two experimental conditions: (1) the correct mode or (2) the faulty mode. Our findings reveal that, while significantly affecting subjective perceptions of the robot and assessments of its reliability and trustworthiness, the robot's performance does not seem to substantially influence participants' decisions to (not) comply with its requests. However, our results further suggest that the nature of the task requested by the robot, e.g. whether its effects are revocable as opposed to irrevocable, has a signicant im- pact on participants' willingness to follow its instructions

Loyal Tongue, Liberal Mind: International Students’ Experiences on Dietary Acculturation in England

This study explores the dietary experiences of international students in a British university, and how these phenomena differ from what they experienced in their home country. Ten participants were recruited using purposive sampling. The inclusion criteria were international students who had lived in England for less than a year; those with diet-related health problems were excluded. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed with Colaizzi’s method. This resulted in three main themes: changes in diet, new dietary experiences, and factors affecting dietary practices. Our findings also offer new insight about what international students might encounter relating to food and diet when studying abroad

A Novel Reinforcement-Based Paradigm for Children to Teach the Humanoid Kaspar Robot

© The Author(s) 2019. This is the final published version of an article published in Psychological Research, licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-bution 4.0 International License. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00607-xThis paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research with the aim of supporting the development of social and collaborative skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We present a novel experiment where the classical roles are reversed: in this scenario the children are the teachers providing positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot in order for the robot to learn arbitrary associations between different toy names and the locations where they are positioned. The objective of this work is to develop games which help children with ASD develop collaborative skills and also provide them tangible example to understand that sometimes learning requires several repetitions. To facilitate this game we developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its level of uncertainty during the learning process, so as to better inform the children interacting with Kaspar the reasons behind the successes and failures made by the robot. Overall, 30 Typically Developing (TD) children aged between 7 and 8 (19 girls, 11 boys) and 6 children with ASD performed 22 sessions (16 for TD; 6 for ASD) of the experiment in groups, and managed to teach Kaspar all associations in 2 to 7 trials. During the course of study Kaspar only made rare unexpected associations (2 perseverative errors and 1 win-shift, within a total of 272 trials), primarily due to exploratory choices, and eventually reached minimal uncertainty. Thus the robot's behavior was clear and consistent for the children, who all expressed enthusiasm in the experiment.Peer reviewe

Feasibility of a second iteration wrist and hand supported training system for self-administered training at home in chronic stroke

Telerehabilitation allows continued rehabilitation at home after discharge. The use of rehabilitation technology supporting wrist and hand movements within a motivational gaming environment could enable patients to train independently and ultimately serve as a way to increase the dosage of practice. This has been previously examined in the European SCRIPT project using a first prototype, showing potential feasibility, although several usability issues needed further attention. The current study examined feasibility and clinical changes of a second iteration training system, involving an updated wrist and hand supporting orthosis and larger variety of games with respect to the first iteration. Nine chronic stroke patients with impaired arm and hand function were recruited to use the training system at home for six weeks. Evaluation of feasibility and arm and hand function were assessed before and after training. Median weekly training duration was 113 minutes. Participants accepted the six weeks of training (median Intrinsic Motivation Inventory = 4.4 points and median System Usability Scale = 73%). After training, significant improvements were found for the Fugl Meyer assessment, Action Research Arm Test and self-perceived amount of arm and hand use in daily life. These findings indicate that technology-supported arm and hand training can be a promising tool for self-administered practice at home after stroke.Final Accepted Versio