Robocamp at Home

Toward Family-Robot Interactions: A Family-Centered Framework in HRI

“…Eight toddlers refused to play with the robot in the playroom, while eleven toddlers interacted with the robot. The remote teleoperated system increased opportunities for grandparent-grandchild interactions and promoted the sharing of [1,20]; At Home Special Education and Family Bonding [6]; Family Co-Learning [2]; Family Dynamics [46] Robot Perceptions [43]; Robot Adoption in Long-Term [4,34,40]; Robot Acceptance [27,39,42] daily life. Motivated by these interactions, grandparents paid special attention to their appearance during video interactions.…”

“…Family Co-Learning. In a one-month in-home study with eight families (sixteen parents and sixteen children aged 6-15 years old) in Finland, Ahtinen et al [2] explored how family members collaboratively learn about social robots at their homes. Family members interacted with a robot collaboratively by completing many open-ended, hands-on tasks to learn about social robots, their potential roles and tasks, programming, and design.…”

“…The robot system considers the technical and interactive attributes of the robot itself, including its design, capabilities, and functions. We identified varying use cases of robots that have distinct impacts on family life, such as those designed for storytelling [20,42], play [1,40,43], learning [2,27], therapy [4,6], communication [34,46], and childcare [39]. Several robot characteristics may support interactions between family members, for example, robot's ability to convey emotion [6], hold multi-party interactions [20], assist with homework, chores [27], entertainment [40], help maintain long-distance connections [34], as well as its communication style [46], perceived intelligence and agency [42].…”

“…This system sets the stage for HRI interactions and shapes the nature of robot use within specific environments. Examples from our review include: robots in the home [2,6,20,40,46] or surveys for in-home use [39,42]; museums [43]; hospital [4]; or robots used in multiple contexts, between a playroom and non-co-located family members [1], a hospital and home [34], or classroom and home [27].…”

“…Family members are rarely active participants in interactions with robots, and typically serve as providers of consent or feedback. In recognition of this potential, a small but growing number of studies focus on robots designed with both the children and parents in mind (e.g., parent-child co-learning [2], parent-child storytelling [20], or parent-child goal-oriented play [43]). Still, understanding human-robot interaction within a broader family context is challenging, due to the limited applications of current robot technologies to autonomously maintain multi-party and long-term interactions in domestic settings.…”