Title :
Using robots to help people habituate to visible disabilities
Author :
Riek, Laurel D. ; Robinson, Peter
Author_Institution :
Comput. Lab., Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
fDate :
June 29 2011-July 1 2011
Abstract :
We explore a new way of using robots as human-human social facilitators: inter-ability communication. This refers to communication between people with disabilities and those without disabilities. We have interviewed people with head and facial movement disorders (n = 4), and, using a vision-based approach, recreated their movements on our 27 degree-of-freedom android robot. We then conducted an exploratory experiment (n = 26) to see if the robot might serve as a suitable tool to allow people to practice inter-ability interaction on a robot before doing it with a person. Our results suggest a robot may be useful in this manner. Furthermore, we have found a significant relationship between people who hold negative attitudes toward robots and negative attitudes toward people with disabilities.
Keywords :
biomechanics; electromyography; handicapped aids; medical disorders; medical robotics; prosthetics; EMG measurement; android robot degree-of-freedom; facial movement disorder; head movement disorder; human-human social facilitators; interability communication; visible disability; Atmospheric measurements; Interviews; Muscles; Particle measurements; Robot sensing systems; Videos; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Disabled Persons; Electromyography; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Robotics; Young Adult;
Conference_Titel :
Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 2011 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Zurich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9863-5
Electronic_ISBN :
1945-7898
DOI :
10.1109/ICORR.2011.5975453