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Independent studies in various settings indicate that interventions with Socially Assistive Robots, might help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to participate in activities that demand cooperation and communication skills. The purpose of this article is to present the benefits of robot assisted interventions in the development of social skills in children with ASD. The research took place in Greek Kindergarten and Elementary schools, during which six children with ASD participated in triadic activities, with and without the assistance of the Daisy Robot. The results showed statistical significant differences in three of the four skills (activity in a group, turn taking, and information) that were measured before and after the interventions with the robot.

Aim: The current study investigates the outcomes of the interaction between four elementary school pupils with autism spectrum disorders and a robot called Daisy. Method: During structured and prepared activities which were conducted by the social robot, as well as by a human partner. Results: Results indicate positive outcomes during the interaction with the robot. Specifically, there were more incidences of eye contact, proximity and verbal interaction during sessions with the robot than during those with the teacher. Additional behaviors such as increased attention and ability to follow instructions improved during interaction with the robot. There was also a noted reduction in fidgeting.

Objective: The current educational intervention investigates how the use of the educational robot as an assistive tool can aid young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder helping them strengthen relationships and improving their interaction with typically developing children. Method: For this purpose an interdisciplinary road safety program was implemented involving the construction, programming and operation of a 3D LEGO robot bicycle model. Results: The results showed that the use of educational robotics appeared to bring about a change in the indifferent attitude of the typically developing students towards the students with ASD. In addition in contributed to the development of the social, communicational and emotional skills of the child with ASD and lead to a reduction in his challenging behaviors.

Aim: The current study investigates the outcomes of the interaction between four elementary school pupils with autism spectrum disorders and a robot called Daisy. Method: During structured and prepeared activities which were conducted by the social robot, as well as by a human partner. Results: Results indicate positive outcomes during the interaction with the robot. Specifically, there were more incidences of eye contact, proximity and verbal interaction during sessions with the robot than during those with the teacher. Additional behaviors such as increased attention and ability to follow instructions improved during interaction with the robot. There was also a noted reduction in fidgeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the years to come social robots will be extensively used in the teaching field. Consequently, it is important to determine how these robots can optimally interact with students. This paper specifically looks at the performance of social robots in place of university professors, in the field of engineering, measuring three outcomes, enjoyment (questionnaire), the acquisition of knowledge (academic test after class and final exam grades) and level of surprise (facial expressions monitored by cameras). Inspired by previous cognitive studies which have evidenced that feelings of surprise and familiarity affect the learning process, the hypothesis of this research is that robot-tutors will increase student's enjoyment. Leading the research to question whether higher levels of enjoyment strongly correlate with a higher acquisition of knowledge through a series of three experiments. Using the same subject material, three variables were tested: 1. one robot-tutor lecture, 2. one human-tutor lecture, 3. two robot-tutor lectures. Initial findings showed that students lectured by a human-tutor once, acquired a higher level of knowledge compared to those lectured by a robot-tutor once. However, those in the robot-tutor lecture shared higher levels of enjoyment as well as increased expressions of surprise. When students were lectured by a robot-tutor for the second time, results showed both a higher level of acquired knowledge and enjoyment and a drop in expressed surprise, compared to both, one human-tutor lecture and one robot-tutor lecture or one robot-tutor lecture. We conclude that high levels of surprise distracted students initially but once overcome, acted as motivation to study. • Real University classroom environment with robot tutor. • Comparison of knowledge acquisition and level of enjoyment in students after having class with human-tutor or robot-tutor. • Students lectured by a human-tutor have higher knowledge acquisition in comparison with a robot-tutor. • Students lectured by the robot had significantly higher level of enjoyment from the course. • The effect of students' level of surprize in motivation and learning process after robot-tutor courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the use of social robots in education is constantly increasing in the growing field of human-robot interaction (HRI). Consequently, it is essential to determine an appropriate methodology to test how these robots can optimally interact with students. This study specifically looks at how we can use existing knowledge from psychology, neuroscience and educational research and apply them with validity and credibility in HRI studies. We are interested in incorporating research methodologies to evaluate the performance of social robots acting as university professors in a real classroom environment. Moreover, we aim to measure three effects, a) students' knowledge acquisition (quiz after lecture and final exam grades), b) level of enjoyment (Likert scale questionnaire), and c) level of surprize (analysis of facial expressions filmed by cameras). To identify the relationship between students' knowledge acquisition, enjoyment, and level of surprize, we designed a series of three experiments, testing three variables: 1. one human-tutor lesson, 2. one robot-tutor lesson, 3. two robot-tutor lessons. In this paper we thoroughly explain the methods used to measuring and testing these variables based on modern and reliable sources.•Application of Psychological Research Methods to Human-Robot Interaction Studies., (© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The influence of human-care service robots in human-robot interaction is becoming of great importance, because of the roles that the robots are taking in today's and future society. Thus, we need to identify how humans can interact, collaborate, and learn from social robots more efficiently. Additionally, it is important to determine the robots' modalities that can increase the humans' perceived likeness and knowledge acquisition and enhance human-robot collaboration. The present study aims to identify the optimal social service robots' modalities that enhance the human learning process and level of enjoyment from the interaction and even attract the humans' attention to choosing a robot to collaborate with it. Our target group was college students, pre-service teachers. For this purpose, we designed two experiments, each one split in two parts. Both the experiments were between groups, and human participants had the chance to watch the Nao robot performing a storytelling exercise about the history of robots in a museum-educational activity via video annotations. The robot's modalities were manipulated on its body movements (expressive arm and head gestures) while performing the storytelling, friendly attitude expressions and storytelling, and personality traits. After the robot's storytelling, participants filled out a knowledge acquisition questionnaire and a self-reported enjoyment level questionnaire. In the second part, we introduce the idea of participants witnessing a conversation between the robots with the different modalities, and they were asked to choose the robot with which they want to collaborate in a similar activity. Results indicated that participants prefer to collaborate with robots with a cheerful personality and expressive body movements. Especially when they were asked to choose between two robots that were cheerful and had expressive body movements, they preferred the one which originally told them the story. Moreover, participants did not prefer to collaborate with a robot with an extremely friendly attitude and storytelling style., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Velentza, Fachantidis and Pliasa.)