Social robots have great potential in supporting individuals’ physical and mental health/wellbeing. While they have been increasingly evaluated in some domains, such as with children with autism, their evaluation has not been as extensive in other areas. We present a systematic review of domains in which social robots have been evaluated specifically in health/wellbeing contexts. We ask which robots have been evaluated, who the participants were, and how participants interacted with the robots. PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews were followed. Articles with children as participants, using a purely robotic device, and in languages other than English were excluded. A total of 9,362 peer-reviewed articles (up to February 2021) from ACM DL, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, PubMed, and PsychInfo were identified. After applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria 443 articles were included in the review. The majority of studies were conducted at care centers while studies in hospitals/clinics have seen relatively limited attention. In many cases, the social robots were not programmed for specific health-related tasks, limiting their application. We also discuss robots used in real-world settings and propose a “Personal healthcare journey,” which includes different stages of one’s life which could benefit from a social robot, with the goal of increasing long-term adoption of social robots for supporting health/wellbeing.

Public speaking anxiety is one of the most common subtypes of social anxiety and is a prevalent concern among university students. Many students experience excessive anxiety when giving presentations in front of other people, which can negatively impact their academic performance and overall mental well-being. With limited access to human coaches and interventions, there is a need for innovative technological solutions, including social robots, to extend and enhance mental health support and accessibility. In this article, we first outline a co-design study with five mental health professionals and a participatory design study with six university students, aiming to design a robotic mental well-being coach to help university students manage public speaking anxiety. Afterwards, we detail a user study with 50 university students to evaluate the usability and acceptability of the developed robotic mental well-being coach system. The findings showed that the robotic coach system, which includes the robot and a tablet, received a usability score of 84.05 and had high acceptability among participants who perceived the robot as knowledgeable and competent. Moreover, participants’ self-reported moods significantly improved following the study. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative analyses in this study yield promising results regarding the potential use of robotic coaches to help university students manage their public speaking anxiety.

Public speaking anxiety, one of the most common subtypes of social anxiety, is prevalent among university students and can negatively impact their academic success and mental well-being. Limited access to human coaches and interventions calls for innovative technological solutions, including social robots, to extend and complement mental health support and increase accessibility. This study employs a co-design approach to design a robotic mental well-being coach aimed at assisting university students in managing public speaking anxiety. Collaborative co-design sessions with five mental health professionals were conducted to identify the design-related needs (i.e., robot behaviour and interactions) for developing a robotic coach that can effectively assist students’ public speaking anxiety. In addition, a co-design study involving university students was conducted to gather opinions for further improvements of the robotic coach. Students provided feedback on the developed system and generally found the robot engaging, relaxing, knowledgeable, and beneficial for learning relaxation exercises. The findings provide insights into the development of a robotic coach for supporting university students in managing public speaking anxiety.

Social robots have the potential to serve as coaches for public speaking training. To design successful social robots, it is important to understand the expectations and perceptions of prospective users of such robots. In this paper, we present thematic analyses of comments made by 168 participants in an online study where participants watched videos of agents in the role of a public speaking coach. The study had a between-participant design with three conditions: two conditions with a humanoid social robot in either (1) active listening mode, i.e., using non-verbal backchanneling, or (2) passive listening mode, and (3) a voice assistant agent. The themes identified and discussed can contribute to the development of social robots and other agents as public speaking coaches.

Mental health problems are on the rise among university students. Many students face overwhelming stress and anxiety when participating in different activities and interacting with peers, which can affect their performance and mental well-being. However, many are unlikely to seek or receive help. Intelligent agents can offer the possibility of delivering health and mental well-being interventions with the aim of extending and complementing mental health interventions and increasing accessibility. To provide efficient interventions for students, it is imperative to identify design elements and functionalities that are most effective for engaging students. In this paper, we conducted an online survey with 85 participants (undergraduate and graduate students) to investigate preferences for using intelligent agents (e.g., conversational agents, social robots, etc.) to support their mental well-being, specifically to deal with feelings of stress and anxiety in social situations that are common in academic contexts. We asked students to complete a questionnaire in order to explore students’ experience of anxiety and their perceptions of different aspects of intelligent agents in the context of managing anxiety. The results provide insights on different social and technical capabilities as well as design elements that need to be considered when developing intelligent agents to help address stress and anxiety among university students.

Social robots have been used in mental health care interventions not only to increase access to mental health treatments, but also to complement the support provided by practitioners. We propose incorporating social robots in conventional treatments for children and adolescents with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Although non-robotic, evidence-based interventions for social anxiety are already available, factors such as embarrassment, and anticipatory anxiety have led to treatment delay and avoidance among this clinical population. To encourage treatment and to further improve treatment outcomes, in this work-in-progress article we propose the incorporation of social robots in conventional treatments for SAD. Social robots offer many advantages, such as adaptability, being non-judgmental, and providing interaction capabilities, which could make them a useful tool in the hands of practitioners working with children and adolescents with SAD. We discuss the different roles that social robots could play in helping children with social anxiety make the most of conventional treatments. We also present preliminary results (68 participants) on adolescents’ preferences for using intelligent agents in promoting mental well-being. We conclude by summarizing the potential benefits and limitations of using social robots in conventional treatments for social anxiety.