Friendship with a robot: Children's perception of similarity between a robot's physical and virtual embodiment that supports diabetes self-management.

Objective: The PAL project develops a conversational agent with a physical (robot) and virtual (avatar) embodiment to support diabetes self-management of children ubiquitously. This paper assesses 1) the effect of perceived similarity between robot and avatar on children's' friendship towards the avatar, and 2) the effect of this friendship on usability of a self-management application containing the avatar (a) and children's motivation to play with it (b).

Methods: During a four-day diabetes camp in the Netherlands, 21 children participated in interactions with both agent embodiments.

Using a robot to personalise health education for children with diabetes type 1: a pilot study.

Objective: Assess the effects of personalised robot behaviours on the enjoyment and motivation of children (8-12) with diabetes, and on their acquisition of health knowledge, in educational play.

Methods: Children (N=5) played diabetes quizzes against a personal or neutral robot on three occasions: once at the clinic, twice at home. The personal robot asked them about their names, sports and favourite colours, referred to these data during the interaction, and engaged in small talk.