Social Robotics in Psychological Interventions for Children

Abstract

Social Robotics is focused on designing robots that interact with humans naturally, aligning with social norms. Interaction with Social Robots shows significant benefits across diverse domains, such as education, health or general well-being due to its physical embodiment and social features. The chapter offers a succinct review of recent research in child-robot interaction studies, presenting a framework for designing psychological interventions involving children and Social Robots. We focus on interventions in the domain of therapy, general mental well-being and education. The proposed framework guides researchers and practitioners, highlighting recent studies and providing insights for designing future interventions aligned with the most current research. The three main components of the framework are the robot, the child, and the intervention context. We delve into the features of these 3 dimensions and illustrate in two Case Studies how child-robot interactions are designed to create interesting and meaningful interactive experiences in educational and therapeutic settings.