arXiv subjects

Ela Liberman-Pincu

Publications and source records attributed to Ela Liberman-Pincu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

A Robotic Medical Clown (RMC): Forming a Design Space Model

Medical clowns help hospitalized children in reducing pain and anxiety symptoms and increase the level of satisfaction in children's wards. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of medical clowns around the world. Furthermore, isolated children can not enjoy this service. This study explored the concept of a Robotic Medical Clown (RMC) and its role. We used mixed methods of elicitation to create a design space model for future robotic medical clowns. We investigated the needs, perceptions, and preferences of children and teenagers using four methods: interviewing medical clowns to learn how they perceive their role and the potential role of an RMC, conducting focus groups with teenagers, a one-on-one experience of children with a robot, and an online questionnaire. The concept of RMCs was acceptable to children, teenagers, and medical clowns. We found that the RMC's appearance affects the perception of its characters and role. Future work should investigate the interaction in hospitals.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2023

Designing Socially Assistive Robots: Exploring Israeli and German Designers' Perceptions

Socially assistive robots (SARs) are becoming more prevalent in everyday life, emphasizing the need to make them socially acceptable and aligned with users' expectations. Robots' appearance impacts users' behaviors and attitudes towards them. Therefore, product designers choose visual qualities to give the robot a character and to imply its functionality and personality. In this work, we sought to investigate the effect of cultural differences on Israeli and German designers' perceptions and preferences regarding the suitable visual qualities of SARs in four different contexts: a service robot for an assisted living/retirement residence facility, a medical assistant robot for a hospital environment, a COVID-19 officer robot, and a personal assistant robot for domestic use. Our results indicate that Israeli and German designers share similar perceptions of visual qualities and most of the robotics roles. However, we found differences in the perception of the COVID-19 officer robot's role and, by that, its most suitable visual design. This work indicates that context and culture play a role in users' perceptions and expectations; therefore, they should be taken into account when designing new SARs for diverse contexts.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2022

Bridging the gap: Generating a design space model of Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) for Older Adults using Participatory Design (PD)

Participatory Design (PD) methods are effective in understanding older adults' perspectives, concerns, and wishes and generating ideas for new intelligent aids. The aim of our study was first to map perceptions and explore the needs of older users from socially assistive robots (SARs) and then, to integrate new tools and experiences for end users to express their needs as part of a PD process. The outcome of the process is a design space model of functional, behavioral, and visual relationships and elicited emotions. This process enables to explore, map, and understand the needs of older users before and after experiencing with SARs, and to learn how they impact robotic designs, behavior, and functionality. First, by interviewing older adults, caregivers, and relatives we learned older adults' daily routines, habits, and wishes. Then, we reconstructed those needs into design requirements and further detailed them with older adults using focus groups. Based on the functional, behavioral, and visual design factors that emerged from this phase, we built experimental human-robot tasks, on a commercially available robot, to examine feasibility and acceptance of the technology in one-on-one interactions. Participants' responses throughout the study led to the creation of the design space model mapping relationships and elicited emotions.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2022

Designing robots with the context in mind -- One design does not fit all

Robots' visual qualities (VQs) impact people's perception of their characteristics and affect users' behaviors and attitudes toward the robot. Recent years point toward a growing need for Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) in various contexts and functions, interacting with various users. Since SAR types have functional differences, the user experience must vary by the context of use, functionality, user characteristics, and environmental conditions. Still, SAR manufacturers often design and deploy the same robotic embodiment for diverse contexts. We argue that the visual design of SARs requires a more scientific approach considering their multiple evolving roles in future society. In this work, we define four contextual layers: the domain in which the SAR exists, the physical environment, its intended users, and the robot's role. Via an online questionnaire, we collected potential users' expectations regarding the desired characteristics and visual qualities of four different SARs: a service robot for an assisted living/retirement residence facility, a medical assistant robot for a hospital environment, a COVID-19 officer robot, and a personal assistant robot for domestic use. Results indicated that users' expectations differ regarding the robot's desired characteristics and the anticipated visual qualities for each context and use case.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2022

Judging a socially assistive robot (SAR) by its cover; The effect of body structure, outline, and color on users' perception

Socially assistive robots (SARs) aim to provide assistance through social interaction. Previous studies contributed to understanding users` perceptions and preferences regarding existing commercially available SARs. Yet, very few studies regarding SARs' appearance used designated SAR designs, and even fewer evaluated isolated visual qualities (VQ). In this work, we aim to assess the effect of isolated VQs systematically. To achieve this, we first conducted market research and deconstructed the VQs attributed to SARs. Then, a reconstruction of body structure, outline, and color scheme was done, resulting in the creation of 30 new SAR models that differ in their VQs, allowing us to isolate one character at a time. We used these new designs to evaluate users' preferences and perceptions in two empirical studies. Our empirical findings link VQs with perceptions of SAR characteristics. These can lead to forming guidelines for the industrial design processes of new SARs to match user expectations.

cs.HC↗