Robots can be used to diagnose mental health disorders in children: Researchers

According to one recent study, robots may be more successful than parent-reported or self-reported exams in detecting mental health issues in children.

A team of roboticists, computer scientists, and psychiatrists from the University of Cambridge conducted a research with 28 children aged eight to thirteen, using a child-sized humanoid robot to deliver a set of conventional psychological questionnaires to each participant. The youngsters were eager to confide in the robot, sharing information with it that they had not previously disclosed using the normal evaluation approach of online or in-person surveys.

This is the first time robots have been used to assess children’s mental health.

According to the researchers, robots might be a beneficial adjunct to existing methods of mental health evaluation, but they are not designed to replace professional mental health care. The findings will be presented today (1 September) in Naples, Italy, at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children’s mental health suffered as a result of homeschooling, financial pressures, and isolation from peers and friends. Anxiety and despair among children in the UK have been on the rise even before the epidemic, but resources and assistance to address mental health are critically lacking.

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been investigating how they may benefit children.

“After becoming a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it may merge with my robotics work,” Gunes explained. “Children have a strong tactile sense and are lured to technology. They are disconnected from the physical environment if they are utilising a screen-based technology. Robots, on the other hand, are ideal because they exist in the actual world; they are more engaging, therefore the children are more involved.”

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been investigating how they may benefit children.

“After becoming a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it may merge with my robotics work,” Gunes explained. “Children have a strong tactile sense and are lured to technology. They are disconnected from the physical environment if they are utilising a screen-based technology. Robots, on the other hand, are ideal because they exist in the actual world; they are more engaging, therefore the children are more involved.”

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory in Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been researching how they may be beneficial to children.

“After I became a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it can combine with my work in robots,” Gunes explained. “Children are very tactile, and they are lured to technology. They are removed from the physical world if they are utilising a screen-based technology. But robots are ideal because they exist in the physical world; they are more interactive, so the children are more engaged.”

Children and their parents or guardians completed a standard online questionnaire to measure each child’s mental well-being before to each session.

The robot accomplished four separate tasks throughout each session:

1) offered open-ended questions regarding recent joyful and unpleasant memories;

2) used the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) to assess mood and feelings.

3) conducted an image task modelled after the Children’s Apperception Test (CAT), in which children were asked to answer questions about the pictures they saw; and

4) used the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) to assess generalised anxiety, panic disorder, and depression in children.

Following the SMFQ, children were placed into three groups based on their likelihood of struggling with their mental health. Throughout the session, participants engaged with the robot by speaking to it or touching sensors on the robot’s hands and feet. During the session, other sensors recorded participants’ heartbeats, head movements, and eye movements.

Participants in the study all stated that they enjoyed conversing with the robot; some even volunteered details with the robot that they had not given in person or on the online questionnaire.

The researchers discovered that youngsters with differing levels of well-being worries interacted with the robot in different ways.

The researchers discovered that engaging with the robot resulted in more positive answer scores to the surveys for youngsters who were not having mental wellbeing-related concerns. However, for children who may be having well-being worries, the robot may have enabled them to confess their genuine sentiments and experiences, resulting in higher unfavourable questionnaire response scores.

“Because the robot we employ is child-sized and utterly non-threatening, children may regard it as a confidante — they feel safe sharing secrets with it,” Abbasi said. “Other researchers have discovered that youngsters are more willing than adults to give confidential information to a robot, such as that they are being bullied.”

According to the researchers, while their findings suggest that robots might be a valuable tool for psychological assessments of youngsters, they are not a replacement for human connection.

“We have no plans to replace psychologists or other mental health experts with robots since their skill far beyond anything a robot can achieve,” co-author Dr. Micol Spitale remarked. “However, our research shows that robots might be a beneficial tool in assisting youngsters in opening up and discussing topics they may not be comfortable sharing at first.”

According to the researchers, they want to extend their study in the future by enrolling additional individuals and tracking them throughout time.

They are also looking into whether comparable outcomes may be obtained if youngsters engage with the robot through video chat.

Also Read: Study gives better knowledge of how OCD develops and may lead to improved treatment options

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre contributed to the study.

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