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The Broad Prospects of Humanoid Robots in the Field of Children's Mental Health Assessment

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Anxiety and depression in children are becoming increasingly concerning mental health issues globally. According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, there was a rising trend in anxiety and depressive symptoms among children before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of affected children doubled during the pandemic. Researchers in the UK have expressed urgency in addressing the increase in children with health issues due to limited resources and difficulties in understanding and addressing their needs.

01 More Scientific Testing

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At the 31st IEEE International Conference on Human-Machine Interaction Communication, psychiatrists, robotics experts, and computer scientists from the University of Cambridge presented a new study. The study indicates that humanoid robots are better at helping to identify children's psychological issues compared to parents and self-assessments.

In the study, scientists used SoftBank Robotics' NAO humanoid robot platform, which stands at only 58 cm tall and has a cute and approachable appearance. NAO's multiple touch sensors, 4 speakers, two 2D cameras, and voice recognition and conversation functions in over twenty languages can fully assist in assessing children's mental health.

Before the study began, 28 children aged 8 to 13 from Cambridge, UK, and their guardians filled out standard mental health assessment questionnaires. Next, it was time for a 45-minute one-on-one interaction with NAO.

During the research process, NAO followed a pre-written script and interacted with the children. It asked them to complete tasks inspired by standardized tests in the field of child cognitive psychology. Specifically, NAO asked four types of questions: a set of open-ended questions about their positive or negative experiences from the previous week, a brief mood and emotion questionnaire, a child perception test, and a revised version of the child anxiety and depression scale.

Based on the assessment results, among the three groups of tests, robot assessment was the most appropriate pattern for identifying anomalies in children's mental health compared to self-reports and parental reports.

02 More Authentic Responses

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Children reported that they preferred interacting with robots and provided more complete, intimate, and authentic information compared to human interviewers during the interaction. This is because they perceived NAO as completely harmless, which is the opposite when facing human interviewers.

Researchers emphasized, "Children view robots as confidants and feel that they will not get into trouble for sharing secrets with robots." Compared to facing adults, children are more inclined to confide their secret stories to robots, such as their experiences of being bullied.

During the interaction, children could respond to the robot's questions verbally or by touching the sensor-equipped parts of NAO, such as its hands and feet. At the same time, children wore other sensors to measure heart rate, eye and head movements, and other stress indicators.

03 Easier Communication

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NAO is not intended to replace the relationship between children and therapists or between children and relatives but to provide more comprehensive situations and supplementary information.

This is particularly important after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, many preventive measures were implemented, such as isolation and remote learning, which not only limited children but also adults' social interactions to varying degrees, and the harm caused is becoming increasingly apparent. Contactless examinations can reduce the risk of virus infection and better protect the health and safety of children.

In the next phase of experiments, a larger and more diverse sample of children will be studied, and robots as conversationalists will be tested through video chats (not just face-to-face). It is expected that NAO will be widely applied as an effective means of assessing mental health.


reference:

https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/blog/robot-listen-to-children-problems

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-future-brain/202209/robots-assess-the-mental-health-kids-surprising-results

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