Delivering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Using A Conversational Social Robot Social robots are becoming an integrated part of our daily life due to their ability to provide companionship and entertainment. A subfield of robotics, Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR), is particularly suitable for expanding these benefits into the healthcare setting because of its unique ability to provide cognitive, social, and emotional support. This paper presents our recent research on developing SAR by evaluating the ability of a lifelike conversational social robot, called Ryan, to administer internetdelivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) to older adults with depression. For Ryan to administer the therapy, we developed a dialoguemanagement system, called ProgramR. Using an accredited CBT manual for the treatment of depression, we created seven hourlong iCBT dialogues and integrated them into ProgramR using Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML). To assess the effectiveness of Robotbased iCBT and usersxe2x80x99 likability of our approach, we conducted an HRI study with a cohort of elderly people with mildtomoderate depression over a period of four weeks. Quantitative analyses of participantxe2x80x99s spoken responses (e.g. word count and sentiment analysis), facescale mood scores, and exit surveys, strongly support the notion robotbased iCBT is a viable alternative to traditional humandelivered therapy.

Designing a Socially Assistive Robot for LongTerm InHome Use for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Socially assistive robotics (SAR) research has shown great potential for supplementing and augmenting therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the vast majority of SAR research has been limited to shortterm studies in highly controlled environments. The design and development of a SAR system capable of interacting autonomously it in situ for long periods of time involves many engineering and computing challenges. This paper presents the design of a fully autonomous SAR system for longterm, inhome use with children with ASD. We address design decisions based on robustness and adaptability needs, discuss the development of the robotu0027s character and interactions, and provide insights from the monthlong, inhome data collections with children with ASD. This work contributes to a larger research program that is exploring how SAR can be used for enhancing the social and cognitive development of children with ASD.