Robots Who Care: Robotic Psychology and Robotherapy Approach

Authors offer a Robotic Psychology and Robotherapy concept based on a new paradigm in robotic sciences that emphasizes ‘human-oriented’ rather than ‘mechano-centric’ values of engineering design resulting in user-friendly appearance and increased interactivity of artificial creatures. Robotic Psychology focuses on studying compatibility between people and robotic creatures on sensory-motor, emotional, cognitive, and social levels. Robotherapy is defined as a framework of human–robot interactions aimed at the facilitating a person’s positive experiences through technological tools in order to provide a platform for building new coping life skills. A multi–site project involving robotic cats, Max and Cleo serves as an example of how general principles of the Robotic Psychology and Robotherapy approach are applied to the analysis of individual and group differences in interactions between a ‘caring’ robot with advanced artificial intelligence and synthetic sensory feedback and elderly persons of different gender, mental status, and life experiences.