Sharlin, EhudAghel Manesh, Setareh2024-10-162024-10-162024-09-19Aghel Manesh, S. (2024). Medi, social human-robot interaction in pediatric health (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119847This research explores how we can help a person – particularly a child – in a real-world stressful situation, such as a medical procedure, cope with pain and anxiety by using an interactive, empathetic robot as a social companion. To demonstrate this, we designed and implemented behaviours for a humanoid robot called Medi through iterative prototyping, testing, and refining. We then tested Medi’s behaviours in situ during a blood draw procedure at Alberta Children’s Hospital: our goal (and thesis) was to see if Medi could help children overcome the stress and pain associated with the blood test and consequently improve their overall experience. Using a Wizard of Oz methodology, we had Medi engage the child in an affectionate conversation using physical and verbal interactions. Between the iterative design process and the testing at the hospital, we ran just under a hundred study sessions with 97 participants. We gathered and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data by collecting questionnaires and videotaping the sessions, where our results generally show that an empathetic interactive social robot such as Medi does indeed help children cope with pain and anxiety and improve their experience.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Human-Robot InteractionHuman-Computer InteractionSocial RobotsChild Robot InteractionInteraction DesignPain Management in ChildrenHRIHCIPediatric Health RobotsComputer Sciencemaster thesis