Murphy Miserable Robot: A Companion to Support Children's Well-being in Emotionally Difficult Situations

Abstract

The present research explores the potential roles that social robots could play for the well-being of wider parts of society. The present case focuses on a typical emotionally difficult situation for children and parents alike: The waiting situation in a pediatric practice. The children are bored or frightened, but parents cannot spend comfort at eye level, since they are not patients themselves. This is where Murphy Miserable Robot steps in. Unlike existing concepts, using robots in the health domain as an assistant or teacher, Murphy acts as a companion in misery. This is based on psychological theory and the emotional similarity hypothesis ("misery loves miserable company"). We present our concept and technical vision, as well as the results of an early concept evaluation and discuss next research steps.