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=== State of the art ===
=== State of the art ===
Children who spend a lot of time in hospital and medical facilities are prone to experience stress, anxiety and emotional distress. Emotional support robots are emerging as a potential solution to provide companionship and comfort. In this section, we are going to talk about the state of the art in emotional support robots for children.
Several robots have been developed already with the scope of providing emotional support, but it is important to note that most of the robots developed were not designed specifically for children in hospitals. Some mentionable examples are:
PARO: A robotic seal designed to provide comfort through tactile interactions and soothing behaviors for elderly patients with Alzheimer. This approach is simmilar to animal therapy, for example, but with robots. While it has been proven to reduce stress, it is not specifically targeted for children and it does not engage in interactive play or personalized companionship tailored for young users.
Pepper: is a semi-humanoid robots with the ability to read emotions. It is used as a receptionist at several offices in the UK and is able to identify visitors with the use of facial recognition, send alerts for meeting organisers and arrange for drinks to be made. While it has conversational capabilities and can recognize emotions, its primary function is not emotional support for children, and it lacks deep personalization and game-playing features as well as the caring aspect of emotional support needed for hospitalized children.
Huggable: is a robotic companion capable of active relational and touch-based interactions with a person, targeted for children in hospitals. However, it’s capabilities are still limited, and while it provides emotional support, its interactive play, personalization and tailoring to users is not as advanced as envisioned in an ideal emotional support robot.
Moxi: is a robotic assistant meant to help nurses and hospital staff with administrating medication and helping with repetitive tasks. While it enhances efficiency in hospital environments, Moxi does not engage in direct patient interactions for emotional support or entertainment, making it unsuitable for pediatric emotional care. Despite the advancements in the world of robotics and emotional support robots, some challenges still stand. Developing robots with the particular needs of children in hospitals and that can adapt to the personal needs of every child remains a key challenge. Another important aspect is maintaining the attention for longer periods of time which is a key aspect in the emotional support of kids who must spend a lot of time in the hospitals, this challenge implies constant updates in interaction style and content. To maximize effectiveness, emotional support robots should be seamlessly integrated into hospital care routines, working alongside medical staff and therapists. Lastly, ensuring data security and ethical use of AI in sensitive environments like hospitals is crucial. Regulations must be in place to protect children's privacy, particularly regarding data collection and emotional analysis.
In conclusion,  these robots will become even more effective in providing meaningful emotional support. However, current solutions either lack the specific focus on children or do not incorporate essential features like interactive play and deep personalization. Future research and development should address these gaps to create more suitable and effective emotional support robots for pediatric patients.
<nowiki>https://provenrobotics.ai/pepper-the-emotional-robot/</nowiki>
<nowiki>https://www.paroseal.co.uk/</nowiki>
<nowiki>https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-019-1244-6</nowiki>
<nowiki>https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/huggable-a-social-robot-for-pediatric-care/overview/</nowiki>
<nowiki>https://www.diligentrobots.com/moxi</nowiki>


=== Literature research ===
=== Literature research ===

Revision as of 13:33, 16 February 2025

Emotional support robot for hospitalized children

Group members

Name Student number
Burghelea Mara Ioana
Corduneanu Malina 1816071
Dragomirescu Alexia 1793543
Isaila Briana
Mrvelj Marko
Sirbu Ana

Progress - Workload

Week 1

Name Task No. of hours
Burghelea Mara Ioana Users
Corduneanu Malina Research - psychology (AI/ robots and kids)
Alexia State of the art
Briana Functionality of the robot
Marko Research - hospital and robots
Ana Problem statement

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Introduction

(Name of the robot) - is an emotional support robot made specifically with children that have a long-term hospital stay in mind.

Problem statement

Users - description (Targeted stakeholders)

State of the art

Children who spend a lot of time in hospital and medical facilities are prone to experience stress, anxiety and emotional distress. Emotional support robots are emerging as a potential solution to provide companionship and comfort. In this section, we are going to talk about the state of the art in emotional support robots for children.

Several robots have been developed already with the scope of providing emotional support, but it is important to note that most of the robots developed were not designed specifically for children in hospitals. Some mentionable examples are:

PARO: A robotic seal designed to provide comfort through tactile interactions and soothing behaviors for elderly patients with Alzheimer. This approach is simmilar to animal therapy, for example, but with robots. While it has been proven to reduce stress, it is not specifically targeted for children and it does not engage in interactive play or personalized companionship tailored for young users.


Pepper: is a semi-humanoid robots with the ability to read emotions. It is used as a receptionist at several offices in the UK and is able to identify visitors with the use of facial recognition, send alerts for meeting organisers and arrange for drinks to be made. While it has conversational capabilities and can recognize emotions, its primary function is not emotional support for children, and it lacks deep personalization and game-playing features as well as the caring aspect of emotional support needed for hospitalized children.


Huggable: is a robotic companion capable of active relational and touch-based interactions with a person, targeted for children in hospitals. However, it’s capabilities are still limited, and while it provides emotional support, its interactive play, personalization and tailoring to users is not as advanced as envisioned in an ideal emotional support robot.


Moxi: is a robotic assistant meant to help nurses and hospital staff with administrating medication and helping with repetitive tasks. While it enhances efficiency in hospital environments, Moxi does not engage in direct patient interactions for emotional support or entertainment, making it unsuitable for pediatric emotional care. Despite the advancements in the world of robotics and emotional support robots, some challenges still stand. Developing robots with the particular needs of children in hospitals and that can adapt to the personal needs of every child remains a key challenge. Another important aspect is maintaining the attention for longer periods of time which is a key aspect in the emotional support of kids who must spend a lot of time in the hospitals, this challenge implies constant updates in interaction style and content. To maximize effectiveness, emotional support robots should be seamlessly integrated into hospital care routines, working alongside medical staff and therapists. Lastly, ensuring data security and ethical use of AI in sensitive environments like hospitals is crucial. Regulations must be in place to protect children's privacy, particularly regarding data collection and emotional analysis.

In conclusion, these robots will become even more effective in providing meaningful emotional support. However, current solutions either lack the specific focus on children or do not incorporate essential features like interactive play and deep personalization. Future research and development should address these gaps to create more suitable and effective emotional support robots for pediatric patients.


https://provenrobotics.ai/pepper-the-emotional-robot/

https://www.paroseal.co.uk/

https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-019-1244-6

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/huggable-a-social-robot-for-pediatric-care/overview/

https://www.diligentrobots.com/moxi

Literature research

Functionality of the robot

Design process

References