Empowering Cognitive Stimulation Therapy with Socially Assistive Robotics and EmoAion Recognition
Abstract: Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) has already been widely used in mental health service and research, primarily among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (tSD) and among older adults with dementia. Motivated by the benefits offered by SAR in mental health service and research, we envision that SAR can also benefit cognitive rehabilitation of individuals struggling with a wide range of mental health concerns, including adults with intellectual developmental disorders (IDD), people with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease etc. Cognitive rehabilitation involves guided practice on a range of standard tasks related to one or more cognitive domains. Such gain in cognition will increase autonomy among these individuals which in turn can improve quality of life and hence well-being of these individuals. Motivated by lack of adequate resources for providing support to individuals with mental health concerns, the benefits offered by cognitive rehabilitation and SAR in mental health service and research, we envision that SAR empower:d cognitive rehabilitation can positively affect the well-being of a wide variety of users.
