Abstract

The World Health Organisation (WHO) underscores the prevalence of mental health issues among adults and children on a global scale. Recent research in the fields of human-robot interaction and social robotics have shown that robots have the potential to serve as novel and engaging tools to improve both physical and emotional wellbeing. In this talk, I will present the recent explorations of the Cambridge Affective Intelligence and Robotics Lab in these areas and will illustrate the challenges and opportunities of social robotics for promoting wellbeing with a number of case studies, with insights for short- and long-term adaptation and perceptions and expectations of prospective users of robotic wellbeing coaches.