Therapists' Opinions on Telehealth, Robotics, and Socially Assistive Robot-Augmented Telepresence Systems for Rehabilitation

Abstract

Shortages in therapists, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a gap in care for people with cerebral palsy, stroke, and many other conditions requiring rehabilitation. Socially assistive robots and telehealth are two tools which could help fill this gap and may be able to work together, in socially assistive robot-augmented telerehabilitation, to create meaningful telerehab encounters. We present results from a survey completed between Jun 31, 2020, and Dec 31, 2020, asking 379 therapists in the United States for their opinions on features which may be useful for a telerehabilitation platform and for their general feelings towards robots. We explore their answers and reduce the response space by identifying six factors underlying the answers. We show that therapists want high quality video, control over robots, and more regulations. We also find that they are positive about the features which could be used in socially assistive robot-augmented telerehabilitation.