Social Robots for Sleep Health: A Scoping Review

Poor sleep health is an increasingly concerning public healthcare crisis, especially when coupled with a dwindling number of health professionals qualified to combat it. However, there is a growing body of scientific literature on the use of digital technologies in supporting and sustaining individuals' healthy sleep habits. Social robots are a relatively recent technology that has been used to facilitate health care interventions and may have potential in improving sleep health outcomes, as well. Social robots' unique characteristics -- such as anthropomorphic physical embodiment or effective communication methods -- help to engage users and motivate them to comply with specific interventions, thus improving the interventions' outcomes. This scoping review aims to evaluate current scientific evidence for employing social robots in sleep health interventions, identify critical research gaps, and suggest future directions for developing and using social robots to improve people's sleep health. Our analysis of the reviewed studies found them limited due to a singular focus on the older adult population, use of small sample sizes, limited intervention durations, and other compounding factors. Nevertheless, the reviewed studies reported several positive outcomes, highlighting the potential social robots hold in this field. Although our review found limited clinical evidence for the efficacy of social robots as purveyors of sleep health interventions, it did elucidate the potential for a successful future in this domain if current limitations are addressed and more research is conducted.

Designing Social Robots that Engage Older Adults in Exercise: A Case Study

We present and evaluate a prototype social robot to encourage daily exercise among older adults in a home setting. Our prototype system, designed to lead users through exercise sessions with motivational feedback, was assessed through a case study with a 78-year-old participant for one week. Our case study highlighted preferences for greater user control over exercise choices and questioned the necessity of precise motion tracking. Feedback also indicated a desire for more varied exercises and suggested improvements in user engagement techniques. The insights suggest that further research is needed to enhance system adaptability and effectiveness to better promote daily exercise. Future efforts will aim to refine the prototype based on participant feedback and extend the evaluation to broader in-home deployments.