Arts + Health: New Approaches to Arts and Robots in Health Care
Project Period: 2019-2020
Abstract
We describe the implementation and evaluation of a public interactive robotic art installation in a rehabilitation hospital. The project had two goals; to provide an enjoyable and novel artistic experience for the hospital community, and to better understand how human-centred robotics, particularly a receptive-focused intervention, might promote wellbeing and quality of life for members of hospital communities. By evaluating the experiences of the participants and stakeholders, the value of the installation for participants was assessed. This work contributes relevant insight towards the development of future art installations within the health jurisdiction and more broadly. The data also informs the ongoing discussion concerning the potential role of social and therapeutic robots in health care settings.
Study Period: 2019-2020
Study Location: UC Hospital
Partners: ACT Health
Team Members: Janie Busby Grant; Damith Herath; Jennifer McFarlane; Elizabeth Ann Jochum; Patrick Tresset
Publication
Herath, D, McFarlane, J, Jochum, EA, Grant, JB & Tresset, P 2020, Arts + Health: : New Approaches to Arts and Robots in Health Care. in HRI 2020 - Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction: HRI ‘20: Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, pp. 1-7, https://doi.org/10.1145/3371382.3380733
Janie Busby Grant
Psychology Research Lead
Associate Professor Janie Busby Grant is the Psychology Research Lead at CRL, where her work integrates human-robot interaction and artificial intelligence with a foundation in cognitive psychology and research design. With a strong emphasis on practical applications, Janie brings a reconciliatory approach to interdisciplinary research, particularly in exploring factors influencing human perception of, and engagement with robotic systems.
Damith Herath
Founder/Lead Collaborative Robotics Lab
Professor Damith Herath is the Founder and leader of the Collaborative Robotics Lab (CRL). His work focuses on exploring how robots and humans can collaborate, with an emphasis on the intersection of engineering, psychology, and the arts. His interdisciplinary approach actively seeks insights across diverse fields, promoting innovation and collaboration that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.