TY  - THES
AB  - Even though positive effects of being physically active are commonly
known, only a few parts of the world population are sufficiently ac-
tive. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that this problem
affects 31% of the adult’s world population and 80% of the adolescent
population. Appropriate levels of physical activity (PA) are essential
to prevent obesity in childhood and to keep a Quality of Life (QOL)
in old age but are also essential to prevent other Noncommunicable
Diseases (NCDs). Thus, physical inactivity is growing into a severe
problem globally, and there is a growing need to motivate people
to become more physically active during their lifetime. One primary
cause that raises PA levels is having a peer or help from professionals.
However, having assistance is not possible in every situation. It might
be challenging to find and schedule with a partner or to commute to
other places. Roboticist introduced Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) as
an assistive tool for exercising, cognitive or rehabilitation tasks. This
thesis explores SAR in the context of exercising along four features
that have been partly targeted but not yet thoroughly investigated.
These features are a) the social role of the robot, b) encouragement
c) embodiment and d) adaptation. First, this thesis looks at the mo-
tivational effects of exercising with SAR concerning features a) - c).
Second, this thesis questions how a system can adapt to the user, and
whether adaptivity or adaptability is enough to close the gap between
user needs and system behavior. I conducted studies that test the dif-
ferent features by assessing subjective ratings of the robot as well as
measurable motivational variables (e.g., time spent exercising with
the robot) in a bodyweight workout scenario.
The results show that features a) - c) have a positive influence on
user’s exercising time. Additionally, users perceive a robot compan-
ion as more likable than a robot instructor or a human partner. Fur-
thermore, an adaptive robot increases the associated competence and
quality of relationship compared to an adaptable robot. However, the
results also show that the robot does not always have to exercise along
with the user. In situations where it is not possible, the robot could
also only give encouraging feedback. This thesis backs up earlier find-
ings of using SAR by replicating motivational group exercising ef-
fects found in Human-Human Interaction (HHI). Thus, the evidence
that SARs are a suitable tool for rehabilitative interventions increases
which may convince health experts to consider SAR as a useful thera-
peutic tool. Nevertheless, this thesis evaluated the effects only during
short-term interactions. Thus, proving that the found effects are long-
lasting is essential for future studies.
DA  - 2019
DO  - 10.4119/unibi/2934006
LA  - eng
PY  - 2019
TI  - Socially Assistive Robots for Exercising Scenarios. Studies on group effects, feedback, embodiment and adaption
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29340063
Y2  - 2024-11-22T04:42:55
ER  -