The Socially Therapeutic Assistive Robot (STAR) Therabot and Its Modular Sensor Collar

Abstract

Therabot is a socially therapeutic assistive robot (STAR) in the form of a stuffed dog designed for use in mental healthcare as a supplement to therapist directed interventions. The modular sensor collar is an adjunctive tool designed to facilitate the collection of contextual data in home environments across zoomorphic robotic platforms for the purpose of evaluating sensors and informing the design of machine learning models for context understanding. This demonstration will allow attendees to interact with the latest version of Therabot in both covered and uncovered (underlying robotic platform visible) forms. Additionally, attendees will be able to use and examine the open source modular sensor collar platform. The purpose of this demo is to invite conversation and spark ideas among the community about the design of social robots for use in mental healthcare applications.