Social Care

Are Social Robots Effective in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety?

Are Social Robots Effective in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety?

Last month, the University of Waterloo (Samira Rasouli, Garima Gupta, Elizabeth Nilsen & Kerstin Dautenhahn) published a paper on the effectiveness of social robots for clinicians and patients in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety. They used MiRo and a range of social robots in their study.

Can Robots Care?

Can Robots Care?

Looking for a fun exhibition for the New Year? Come and visit MiRo at the prestigious Thackray Museum of Medicine! The playful ‘Can Robots care?’ exhibition offers visitors the chance to explore a range of robots designed to care for humans.

Are friends electric? The benefits and risks of human-robot relationships

Are friends electric? The benefits and risks of human-robot relationships

Social robots that can interact and communicate with people are growing in popularity for use at home and in customer-service, education, and healthcare settings. Although growing evidence suggests that co-operative and emotionally aligned social robots could benefit users across the lifespan, controversy continues about the ethical implications and their potential harms. In this condensed post, Professor Prescott and Professor Robillard highlight the benefits and risks of human-robot relationships.

MiRo for Research: Could Robots Replace Real Therapy Dogs?

MiRo for Research: Could Robots Replace Real Therapy Dogs?

MiRo-E users and researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth have found that robotic animals may be a better alternative to real-life therapy dogs.

Meet the coders that are helping MiRo to become a better robot

Meet the coders that are helping MiRo to become a better robot

We all have an innate desire to help others, be it helping someone cross the road, giving directions or being a shoulder to cry on. How do you like to personally help others? How about throwing a social robot into the mix and training MiRo to help people?

Train MiRo To Help People and WIN a MiRo-E!

Train MiRo To Help People and WIN a MiRo-E!

In partnership with Discovery STEM and Innovation World, we’re excited to be bring you the GIFT Challenge for your chance to WIN a MiRo-E and more!

MiRo for Research: Small Robots with Big Tasks

MiRo for Research: Small Robots with Big Tasks

Professor of Computer Science Lynne Baille and her team at Heriot-Watt University have been investigating the use of MiRo for a fall alert. Read on to learn about their approach for human-centered robot interaction (HRI) research.

The Thinking Behind Robotic Design

The Thinking Behind Robotic Design

Designing an emotionally engaging robot is a discerning balance between how its personality will be emotionally perceived and its functionality. For Consequential Robotics, it is this interaction between the human and the machine that is our primary focus.

Winners of Innovate UK's Covid-19 Rapid Response Competition

Winners of Innovate UK's Covid-19 Rapid Response Competition

In April 2020, the UK government announced that UK businesses could apply for a share of up to £40 million to respond to new and urgent needs in UK and global communities during and following the Covid-19 pandemic.

3 Uses for this Friendly Little Robot

3 Uses for this Friendly Little Robot

Michael Szollosy, Research Fellow at Sheffield Robotics and a regular MiRo user has been developing his research on the cultural perceptions and impacts of robots. Here, he speaks about why he thinks MiRo is a unique robotic platform.