Abstract Stress is a reaction of the body to external challenges, whether physical or psychological. In sports, there are stress factors that affect the athlete's performance, especially in team sports that involve short, high-intensity exercise cycles followed by short recovery periods, such as American football. The lack of stress regulation mechanisms can be detrimental to the individual and collective performance of athletes. Biofeedback systems have shown promising clinical results in regulating stress for sports competitions. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support their efficacy, and technologies, such as virtual reality videogames, have not been extensively explored. In this article, we present the development and pilot testing of Virtual Autonomic Nervous System (VANS), a virtual reality videogame using biofeedback that supports stress management training in athletes. VANS uses an optical heart rate sensor and aims at keeping the heart rate below a given threshold to control features within the game. We evaluated the usability and user experience of VANS through a 1-week deployment study with 10 American footballers. Our results show that VANS outperformed a commercial videogame used for biofeedback training and considerably reduced stress in our participants. Therefore, VANS could provide stress management training for future matches and competitions. Finally, we reflect on aspects of our design and discuss future directions of our work.

Several studies have been reported on the use of social robots for dementia care. These robots have been used for diverse tasks such as for companionship, as an exercise coach, and as daily life assistant. However, most of these studies have assessed impact on participants only at the time when the interaction takes place rather than their medium or long-term effects. In this work, we report on a nine-week study conducted in a nursing home in which a autonomous social robot, called Eva, acts as facilitator of a cognitive stimulation therapy (CST). During the study, eight persons with dementia interacted with the robot in a group session which included elements of music therapy, reminiscence, cognitive games, and relaxation. Using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory - Nursing Home version (NPI-NH), we analyzed the impact of the therapy guided by the robot. The results show a statistically significant decrease in the total score of NPI-NH. Also, three dementia-related symptoms: delusions, agitation/aggression, and euphoria/exaltation, show a statistically significant decrease after the intervention. In addition, a qualitative analysis on interviews conducted with caregivers shows that all participants exhibits positive short-term effects after the session and provides insights on why some changes in behavior prevailed beyond the therapy sessions. Our results provide evidence that a social robot could play a role in improving the quality of life of persons with dementia.