Robots can help children to open up, allowing experts to identify mental health and wellbeing issues more easily.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge carried out a study involving children aged between 8 and 13.
The team of computer scientists, roboticists and psychiatrists administered a series of standard tests and mental health questionnaires via a child-sized humanoid robot.
It found that some children were more willing to confide in the robot than they were through the usual means of an in-person interview or by filling in an online questionnaire.
During the study, 28 participants took part in a one-to-one session with a Nao robot, a programmable humanoid robot that was first developed by French robotics company Aldebaran Robotics.
The robot stands at just 60cm (24 inches) tall and has a friendly expression.
Children are able to interact with the robot by speaking to it or touching sensors on its hands and feet, while researchers and a parent or guardian observed from a nearby room.
Additional sensors were also able to track the participants’ heartbeats, head and eye movements during the session.
The robot administered a number of standard and non-standard tests
The robot performed a number of different tasks, starting with open-ended questions about happy or sad feelings that the child had experienced over the previous week.
It also administered a number of formal tests, including the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) and a picture test based on the Children’s Apperception Test (CAT), in which the children are asked questions that relate to pictures they are shown.
The robot also administered the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), which is designed to identify and measure anxiety, panic disorder and low mood.
Before the sessions with the robot, the children also completed traditional questionnaires with the help of their parent or guardian.
The children all reported that they enjoyed interacting with the robot, and some shared information that they hadn’t shared either in person or when filling out the online questionnaire.
Study co-author Dr. Micol Spitale said that there was no intention of replacing human psychologists and other mental health professionals, as their expertise far surpassed that of any robot.
She added that the study suggested that robots could be a useful tool, however, which could help some children to open up and share things they might not otherwise be comfortable with.
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