title: Using robots to help people habituate to visible disabilities.
abstract: We explore a new way of using robots as human-human social facilitators: inter-ability communication. This refers to communication between people with disabilities and those without disabilities. We have interviewed people with head and facial movement disorders (n = 4), and, using a vision-based approach, recreated their movements on our 27 degree-of-freedom android robot. We then conducted an exploratory experiment (n = 26) to see if the robot might serve as a suitable tool to allow people to practice inter-ability interaction on a robot before doing it with a person. Our results suggest a robot may be useful in this manner. Furthermore, we have found a significant relationship between people who hold negative attitudes toward robots and negative attitudes toward people with disabilities.
authors.affiliation: Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK CB30FD. Laurel.Riek@cl.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Laurel D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Riek
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult