Robots interacting with humans pose data privacy risks, potentially leading to uncontrollable leaks of personal information. Robots interact with older adults in public places, homes, care facilities, and hospitals. Older adults may have concerns about privacy issues related to robots and would benefit from developing their robot literacy skills regarding data privacy. Research on older adults’ robot literacy in relation to data privacy is scarce. We conducted a qualitative and explorative human-centered design study with care home residents (N=9) to explore their perceptions of and interest in robot data privacy literacy. In the study, they interacted with an early prototype of a robot-assisted learning application implemented on the social robot QTrobot. Participants were concerned about the "superpowers" and data storage of robots. Based on our findings and existing literature, we redesigned the prototype into "Myth Buster," a robot-assisted learning application aimed at enhancing older adults’ data privacy literacy regarding robots. Our work contributes to the understanding of older adults’ data privacy literacy, which is currently under-researched in Human-Robot Interaction. We also present design-relevant insights for developing robot-assisted data privacy learning applications to enhance robot literacy of older adults.

We adopt a novel approach of co-learning between elementary school pupils and university students around social robots and robotics. Social robots provide a motivational learning tool for various learning tasks. Having different learner groups together may bring in new insights, perspectives and learning. Although social robots provide an interesting platform for learning, they have challenges in terms of data privacy, as they track, process and transfer personal data. These matters should be carefully considered. We describe a qualitative and exploratory study including two phases: 1) design of co-learning activities (N=16), and 2) evaluation of co-learning activities (N=56). All co-learning tasks were developed by utilizing privacy-sensitive robotics approach and the tasks included some learning content about data privacy. The evaluation was conducted as co-learning workshops with school pupils of 10 to 15 years and international university students. We report findings about the co-learning experience of these learner groups, as well as their data privacy learnings on social robots. We also present considerations for educational robotics from the data privacy perspective.

Educational robots serve multiple purposes, including language learning, social skills development for students with autism, and improving communication skills. This research emphasizes the role of educational professionals in designing robotic learning activities, highlighting their understanding of pedagogy and student needs. Two language instructors co-designed programming workshops which aimed to teach them how to program the social robot NAO. They implemented robotic language learning activities that were used by 35 students in Finnish language courses. The results of this research suggested that hands-on programming workshops are an effective way to learn robot programming. Maintaining motivation during the sessions is facilitated by setting clear and concrete goals, monitoring progress, acquiring new knowledge, and following a precise schedule. The instructors faced challenges such as unexpected responses from the robots, the initial complexity of the programming software, and apprehensions about programming based on prior knowledge of text-based programming languages.

Social robots are becoming important agents in several sectors of people's lives. They can act in different contexts, e.g., public spaces, schools, and homes. Operating, programming and interacting with these robots will be an essential skill in the future. We present a qualitative and explorative study on how family members collaboratively learn (co-learn) about social robots at their homes. Our one-month in the wild study took place at homes of eight families (N=32) in Finland. We defined a novel model for co-learning about and with a social robot at home, Robocamp. In Robocamp, Alpha Mini robot was introduced and left within the families, who were then provided with weekly robotic challenges to be conducted with the robot. The research data was collected by semi-structured interviews and online diaries. This study provides novel insights about family-based co-learning with social robots in the home context. It also offers recommendations for implementing family-based co-learning with social robots at homes.

Non-anthropomorphic robots can be cost-effective and efficient choice in certain context in comparison to social or humanoid robots. However, introduction of nonanthropomorphic robots can evoke uncertainty and anxiety due to novelty of technology. The goal of this paper is to explore personality design space for non-anthropomorphic wellness robots in office environment to foster acceptance among users. Through Participatory Design approach, we explored appropriate personalities for a well-being robot, which would detect employees’ sitting posture and suggest small wellness interventions. We addressed the following research questions: (i) How can personalities be designed and integrated to non-anthropomorphic wellness robots to promote users’ acceptance? (ii) How do the users perceive designed personalities of non-anthropomorphic wellness robot in the office context? We conducted one contextual inquiry (n=5) and one co-design workshop (n=15) followed by evaluation (n=5) in IT office environment with office employees. As a contribution to the paper, we present personalities and design implications for non-anthropomorphic wellness robot in the office context. Our contribution will serve as a guideline for designers to explore and expand their knowledge on designing robot personalities for non-anthropomorphic robots in the context.

In the field of human-robot interaction (HRI), assistive robots have been integrated to promote social interactions and physically active lifestyles in the wellness context of eldercare. Despite their potential benefits, the current applications of assistive robots are constrained by limited usage environments and their predefined roles. Our research aims to explore older adults’ perceptions of assistive robots and approaches for delivering motivational physical activities by integrating, Spot, a zoomorphic mobile robot, as an outdoor walking guide. We conducted a participatory design study at a Finnish nursing home, consisting of three phases: the co-design workshop, the conceptual design, and the field study. This qualitative research collected data through observations and interviews. The findings report positive attitudes and natural social interactions among older adults during the outdoor physical activities assisted by the Spot robot. Based on these findings, we present a set of design implications for wellness robots in eldercare, including robot roles and tasks, methods for introducing robot literacy, and approaches to presenting robotic solutions to older adults.

Second language learning has become very important because of globalization and as a result, many online language learning platforms have gained popularity. Despite their popularity and convenience, they still lack the human factor and meaningful interaction. Robot-assisted language learning (RALL) is a concept where social robots are employed to assist in language learning, adding meaningful and human-like interactions to the process. In the case of online learning platforms, a similar approach can be taken using virtual robots. Virtual robots are similar to social robots as they can have a visual appearance, communication capabilities as well as human-like features. This research aims to understand the potential users’, i.e., university students’ perceptions, and expectations of a virtual robot as a language learning companion. We are focusing on three major aspects of its design: appearance, interaction and rewarding behavior. This is a qualitative and explorative study, which employs a human-centered design (HCD) approach by conducting a co-design workshop with five groups of university-level language students (n = 25) and a theme interview with seven design students. This article presents the first phase of the HCD process. The participants were asked questions about the appearance, behavior, movements, motivational factors, sound and rewarding features of the potential virtual language companion robot. The findings show that the idea of having an interactive virtual robot to assist online language learning was accepted and appreciated by all the participants but their expectations about the robot’s design varied. The potential users preferred a robot-like appearance rather than a human-like one for the virtual language learning companion, however, different robot-like appearances were mentioned in terms of their body parts, hands, head, shapes etc. Human-like gestures and movements were appreciated by the participants. Finally, seven design implications were formulated to support the further design of a virtual robot that can act as a virtual language learning companion as part of an online learning platform for university students.

The integration of collaborative robots (cobots) is changing manufacturing and production processes in factories. When cobots are designed to be efficient, skillful and safe to interact with, workers can collaborate with them conveniently. As workers often work with cobots intensively, it is crucial to explore the user experience (UX) of cobots. The goal of our research is to explore how factory cobots could be used in ways that support pleasurable worker experiences. We adapted "research through design" (RtD) to conduct exploratory research on novel interactions related to affectiveness, playfulness and relatedness in human-robot collaboration (HRC) using collaborative robot arm, Panda. RtD is a method that utilizes methods and practices of design to produce new knowledge. We conducted an exploratory study with 33 participants to evaluate three HRC storyboards scenarios in two complementary remote workshops. The findings report suitability of affective and playful behavior of cobots in an industrial setting. In addition, we deduced that personality of the robot plays a crutial role in HRC.

There is a strong societal pressure for the immigrants to learn the local language to be able to properly enter the work-life and social life in the new culture. The limit of resources in second language teaching and the challenges related to language practicing with native people, encourages us to search for alternative options for the second language learning. Robot-assisted language learning (RALL) provides one potential option. In this article, we focus on exploring the potentials of customized language robots for immigrants to support their professional development and adaptation to the local work contexts. We describe our qualitative and exploratory user study with 10 immigrants as participants, focusing on their user experience (UX) of the customized RALL solution for language learning at work settings. We collected data through 1) field observations of the authentic RALL sessions in a user pilot, and 2) user interviews in the end of the pilot. The research shows that customization of several aspects of RALL is needed to support immigrants? language learning at work. These include, e.g. the vocabulary and tasks, the level, the speed of language, and the timing of the RALL. The optimal customization can be achieved by co-designing the RALL within the multidisciplinary team including the workplace representatives, language trainer and programmer. The RALL provides a lot of potential for immigrants? language learning as it offers unique learning experiences and many possibilities to keep up the learner?s attention and motivation. However, there are also challenging aspects, which need further consideration.

We present Brainwolk, a walking meeting concept that is mediated with the means of mobile technology. Brainwolk was developed to encourage physical activity in mostly sedentary knowledge work. It is meant for different work tasks, especially for creative work such as ideation and getting inspiration, reflecting on one's thoughts and discussing about work-related topics in relaxed atmosphere. Brainwolk enables knowledge workers to work while walking, thus bringing in several benefits for health and wellbeing, as well as creativity and social interaction. Here we present the Brainwolk concept and a summary of a series of the user experience studies where we have evaluated it during the years 2015--2016. The concept and findings contribute on HCI by bringing in design relevant knowledge and insights on the growing field of technology mediated, physically active ways of work, which belong to the blossoming area of persuasive wellness technologies.

Chronic conditions closely related to lifestyles are the major cause of disability and death in the developed world. Behavior change is the key to managing well-being and preventing and managing chronic diseases. Wellness diary (WD) is a mobile application designed to support citizens in learning about their behavior, and both making and maintaining behavior changes. WD has been found acceptable, useful, and suitable for long-term use as a part of an intervention. When used independently, however, it does not seem to have enough engaging and motivating features to support adoption and long-term commitment. The main improvement needs identified based on a review of WD-related studies were: personalization of the application to individual needs, increasing motivation during early use, maintaining motivation, and aiding in relapse recovery in long-term use. We present concepts to improve the personalization of WD as well as improvements to the feedback and interpretation of the self-observation data. We also present usage models on how this type of mobile application could be utilized.

The PhD research explores the design space of mobile wellness applications by utilizing design research methods. Several case studies are included in the research, e.g. [1],[2],[3],[4]. The main focus of the research is on the aspects, considerations and solutions related to motivational and persuasive mobile wellness applications. The research draws from the multifaceted combination of theories of human behavior, motivation and knowledge of technological possibilities, especially from the user experience perspective.

This paper presents research findings on designing social features for mobile wellness applications. The focus is on opportunities to support and motivate wellness by utilizing and enhancing social interaction between users. New knowledge is created using a 'Research through Design' process. The process combines findings of the user studies performed in India during the year 2008, existing research knowledge on mobile communication technology that provides social features to support wellness activities, and technological possibilities provided by the mobile devices available in the market at the time of the research. New design knowledge is presented in the format of design findings and concept descriptions, as well as concept evaluations. These can then be used by practitioners as inspirational material for product design, and by researchers for exploring the domain of wellness applications.