Candidate: Soomin Shin
Date: June 19, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: E5 4047
Supervisor: Dautenhahn, Kerstin
All are welcome!
Abstract:
This presentation discusses the development and real-world deployment of a therapist-operable socially assistive robot (SAR) system for pediatric speech-language therapy. Through over two years of co-design with speech-language pathologists (SLPs), we developed a robot-assisted therapy platform where therapists can control the SAR and run interactive therapy activities designed for children with different developmental and communication needs. The system was subsequently deployed in an in-the-wild study at a pediatric therapy center over six months, where therapists independently operated the robot without researchers present. Findings from the deployment revealed that SARs can support engagement, emotional regulation, and motivation during therapy sessions. However, the study also exposed a fundamental limitation of current pre-scripted robot systems: long-term sustainability. Preparing and maintaining sufficient therapy content and robot interactions for repeated real-world use creates a major scalability challenge, as children quickly experience repetition fatigue and developmental mismatches across static interactions. To address this challenge, this presentation introduces an ongoing direction toward AI-powered therapist-authoring SAR systems. Rather than replacing therapists, the approach aims to expand therapists’ ability to create, adapt, and personalize robot interactions while preserving human oversight and clinical control. Overall, this work highlights a possible future direction for SARs in real-world therapy: human-in-the-loop robot systems that prioritize scalability and integration into existing therapy flows.