1,720,974 research outputs found
Detecting emotions during a memory training assisted by a social robot for individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
Full text linkThe attention towards robot-assisted therapies (RAT) had grown steadily in recent years particularly for patients with dementia. However, rehabilitation practice using humanoid robots for individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is still a novel method for which the adherence mechanisms, indications and outcomes remain unclear. An effective computing represents a wide range of technological opportunities towards the employment of emotions to improve human-computer interaction. Therefore, the present study addresses the effectiveness of a system in automatically decode facial expression from video-recorded sessions of a robot-assisted memory training lasted two months involving twenty-one participants. We explored the robot’s potential to engage participants in the intervention and its effects on their emotional state. Our analysis revealed that the system is able to recognize facial expressions from robot-assisted group therapy sessions handling partially occluded faces. Results indicated reliable facial expressiveness recognition for the proposed software adding new evidence base to factors involved in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). The use of a humanoid robot as a mediating tool appeared to promote the engagement of participants in the training program. Our findings showed positive emotional responses for females. Tasks affects differentially affective involvement. Further studies should investigate the training components and robot responsiveness
Artificial intelligence for robot-assisted treatment of autism
No full textDesigning robot-based treatments for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a growing research field. This paper presents an artificial intelligence system based on a robot-assisted treatment of autism. The robot acts as a social mediator, trying to elicit specific behaviors in autistic children. A first preliminary evaluation of the system has been performed involving 3 high functioning children with autism spectrum disorders. The experiments carried out make it possible to evaluate the behavioral response of the children in the eye contact exercise
A multimodal interface for robot-children interaction in autism treatment
No full textRecent studies suggest that robots play an important role to cope Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This paper presents a multimodal interface based on a multilevel treatment protocol customized to improve eye contact, joint attention, and imitation. An evaluation of the system has been performed involving 6 high functioning children with autism spectrum disorders. The experiments carried out make it possible to evaluate the behavioral response of the children in the eye contact exercise. ASD children had achieved better results than traditional therapy thanks to the multimodal interface
Social Robots to Support Gestural Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textChildren with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by impairments in communication and social skills, including problems in understanding and producing gestures. Using the approach of robot-based imitation games, in this paper, we propose the prototype of an imitation game that aims at improving the non-verbal communication skills, gestures in particular, of children with ASD. Starting from an application that we developed in another domain, social inclusion of migrant children, we use a social robot to teach them to recognize and produce social gestures through an imitation game. For allowing the recognition of gestures by the robot, we learned a LSTM-based model using MediaPipe for the analysis of hands positions and landmarks. The model was trained on six selected gestures for recognizing their pattern. The module is then used by the robot in the game. Results from the software accuracy point of view are encouraging and show that the proposed approach is suitable for the purpose of showing and recognizing predefined gestures, however we are aware that in the wild with ASD children it might not work properly. For this reason, in the near future, we will perform a study aiming at assessing the efficacy of the approach with ASD children and revise the model and the game accordingly
Evaluating natural interaction with a shop window
No full textThis paper ∗ describes the evaluation of two interaction modalities for Active Fashion, the first prototype of system designed for providing interactively information about dresses shown on mannequins in a shop window. Using the system the user may look at available sizes, colors, price and similar products. Due to the nature of such a system, the interaction must be touch-less and natural. The developed solutions use Microsoft Kinect 2 as a device. The first modality is based on gestures while the second one is based on gaze pointing. Evaluation results show that even if the interaction did not result completely satisfying from the control point of view, users prefer the gaze-based approach and felt positively engaged during the interaction
Socially Inclusive Robots: Learning Culture-Related Gestures by Playing with Pepper
No full textSocial robots are being used successfully as educational technologies. In this paper we propose to use a social robot, Pepper in this case, to teach and explain the meaning of culture-related gestures to unaccompanied minor migrants and support their integration in a new culture. The use of social humanoid robots seems to be an adequate interaction mean to this aim, since they can provide both examples of gesture executions, explanations about the meaning and the context in which the gesture should be used. Moreover, as in other assistive domains, social robots may be used to attract the children's attention and support the social operator in establishing contact with these children that very often, after the difficulties of the journey, do not trust adults. Results of a preliminary study, even if performed with a limited number of participants, show that the proposed approach is suitable for learning gestures
A comparative study on soft biometric approaches to be used in retail stores
No full textSoft biometric analysis aims at recognizing personal traits that provide some information about the individual. In this paper, we implemented and compared several approaches for soft biometric analysis in order to analyze humans soft biometric traits: age, gender, presence of eyeglasses and beard. Convolutional Neural Netoworks can be successfully used to understand soft biometric traits of passers-by looking at public displays and at shop windows
Facial expression recognition from nao robot within a memory training program for individuals with mild cognitive impairment
No full textMild Cognitive Impairment refers to a borderline state between healthy aging and dementia. Memory-training program plays a crucial role in the reduction of the possible conversion in dementia and a robot mediated memory training is useful to overcome limits of traditional programs. The present study addresses the effectiveness of a system in automatically recognize facial expression from video recorded sessions of a robot mediated memory training lasted 2 months involving 21 patients. The system is able to recognize facial expressions from group sessions handling partially occluded faces. Findings showed that in all participants the system is able to recognize facial expressions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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