Browsing by Author "Adams, Kim"
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- Robot skills and cognitive performance of preschool childrenPublication . Poletz, Linda; Encarnação, Pedro; Adams, Kim; Cook, AlSeveral studies have demonstrated the potential of robots as assistive tools for play activities. Through the use of robots, children with motor impairments may be able to manipulate objects and engage in play activities as their typically developing peers, thus having the same opportunities to learn cognitive, social, motor and linguistic skills. Robot use can also provide a proxy measure of disabled children's cognitive abilities by comparing their performance with that of typically developing children. This paper reports a study with eighteen typically developing children aged three, four and five years to assess at which ages the cognitive concepts of causality, negation, binary logic, and sequencing are demonstrated during Lego robot use.
- Using virtual robot-mediated play activities to assess cognitive skillsPublication . Encarnação, Pedro; Alvarez, Liliana; Rios, Adriana; Maya, Catarina; Adams, Kim; Cook, AlPurpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using virtual robot-mediated play activities to assess cognitive skills. Method: Children with and without disabilities utilized both a physical robot and a matching virtual robot to perform the same play activities. The activities were designed such that successfully performing them is an indication of understanding of the underlying cognitive skills. Results: Participants' performance with both robots was similar when evaluated by the success rates in each of the activities. Session video analysis encompassing participants' behavioral, interaction and communication aspects revealed differences in sustained attention, visuospatial and temporal perception, and self-regulation, favoring the virtual robot. Conclusions: The study shows that virtual robots are a viable alternative to the use of physical robots for assessing children's cognitive skills, with the potential of overcoming limitations of physical robots such as cost, reliability and the need for on-site technical support.
- Will artificial intelligence be a blessing or concern in assistive robots for play?Publication . Adams, Kim; Encarnação, Pedro; Rios-Rincón, Adriana M.; Cook, Al M.The recent advances and popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) offer exciting possibilities to improve technology but they also raise concerns. In this paper, we use our research to present the potential benefits of using AI in assistive technology for children with disabilities to access play, and examine potential ethical concerns surrounding data required by AI algorithms. Since play is a key factor in child well-being and cognitive development, secondary disabilities may arise as a consequence of motor impairments. Assistive robots for augmentative manipulation can be instrumental in providing children with physical disabilities play opportunities, but we need to take a principled and user-centered approach to technical innovations.