Rafael Morales Mayoral;Ameer Helmi;Samuel W. Logan;Naomi T. Fitter
{"title":"GoBot Go! Using a Custom Assistive Robot to Promote Physical Activity in Children","authors":"Rafael Morales Mayoral;Ameer Helmi;Samuel W. Logan;Naomi T. Fitter","doi":"10.1109/JTEHM.2024.3446511","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Children worldwide are becoming increasingly inactive, leading to significant wellness challenges. Initial findings from our research team indicate that robots could potentially provide a more effective approach (compared to other age-appropriate toys) for encouraging physical activity in children. However, the basis of this past work relied on either interactions with groups of children (making it challenging to isolate specific factors that influenced activity levels) or a preliminary version of results of the present study (which centered on just a single more exploratory method for assessing child movement). This paper delves into more controlled interactions involving a single robot and a child participant, while also considering observations over an extended period to mitigate the influence of novelty on the study outcomes. We discuss the outcomes of a two-month-long deployment, during which \n<inline-formula> <tex-math>$N=8$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\n participants engaged with our custom robot, GoBot, in weekly sessions. During each session, the children experienced three different conditions: a teleoperated robot mode, a semi-autonomous robot mode, and a control condition in which the robot was present but inactive. Compared to our past related work, the results expanded our findings by confirming with greater clout (based on multiple data streams, including one more robust measure compared to the past related work) that children tended to be more physically active when the robot was active, and interestingly, there were no significant differences between the teleoperated and semi-autonomous modes in terms of our study measures. These insights can inform future applications of assistive robots in child motor interventions, including the guiding of appropriate levels of autonomy for these systems. This study demonstrates that incorporating robotic systems into play environments can boost physical activity in young children, indicating potential implementation in settings crafted to enhance children’s physical movement.","PeriodicalId":54255,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine-Jtehm","volume":"12 ","pages":"613-621"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10640114","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine-Jtehm","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10640114/","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Children worldwide are becoming increasingly inactive, leading to significant wellness challenges. Initial findings from our research team indicate that robots could potentially provide a more effective approach (compared to other age-appropriate toys) for encouraging physical activity in children. However, the basis of this past work relied on either interactions with groups of children (making it challenging to isolate specific factors that influenced activity levels) or a preliminary version of results of the present study (which centered on just a single more exploratory method for assessing child movement). This paper delves into more controlled interactions involving a single robot and a child participant, while also considering observations over an extended period to mitigate the influence of novelty on the study outcomes. We discuss the outcomes of a two-month-long deployment, during which
$N=8$
participants engaged with our custom robot, GoBot, in weekly sessions. During each session, the children experienced three different conditions: a teleoperated robot mode, a semi-autonomous robot mode, and a control condition in which the robot was present but inactive. Compared to our past related work, the results expanded our findings by confirming with greater clout (based on multiple data streams, including one more robust measure compared to the past related work) that children tended to be more physically active when the robot was active, and interestingly, there were no significant differences between the teleoperated and semi-autonomous modes in terms of our study measures. These insights can inform future applications of assistive robots in child motor interventions, including the guiding of appropriate levels of autonomy for these systems. This study demonstrates that incorporating robotic systems into play environments can boost physical activity in young children, indicating potential implementation in settings crafted to enhance children’s physical movement.
期刊介绍:
The IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine is an open access product that bridges the engineering and clinical worlds, focusing on detailed descriptions of advanced technical solutions to a clinical need along with clinical results and healthcare relevance. The journal provides a platform for state-of-the-art technology directions in the interdisciplinary field of biomedical engineering, embracing engineering, life sciences and medicine. A unique aspect of the journal is its ability to foster a collaboration between physicians and engineers for presenting broad and compelling real world technological and engineering solutions that can be implemented in the interest of improving quality of patient care and treatment outcomes, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency. The journal provides an active forum for clinical research and relevant state-of the-art technology for members of all the IEEE societies that have an interest in biomedical engineering as well as reaching out directly to physicians and the medical community through the American Medical Association (AMA) and other clinical societies. The scope of the journal includes, but is not limited, to topics on: Medical devices, healthcare delivery systems, global healthcare initiatives, and ICT based services; Technological relevance to healthcare cost reduction; Technology affecting healthcare management, decision-making, and policy; Advanced technical work that is applied to solving specific clinical needs.