The time is ripe for robopsychology.

As robotic applications become increasingly diverse, more domains of human lives are being involved, now also extending to educational, therapeutic, and social situations, with a trend to even more complex interactions. This diversity generates new research questions that need to be met with an adequate infrastructure of psychological methods and theory. In this review, we illustrate the current lack of a sub-discipline in psychology to systematically study the psychological corollaries of living in societies where the application of robotic and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is becoming increasingly common. We thus propose that organized efforts be made toward recognition of robopsychology as a sub-discipline so that the field of psychology moves away from isolated publications of robot- and AI-related topics to a body of knowledge that is able to meet the demands for change, as the world is preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We propose a definition of robopsychology that not only covers the study of the effects of robots on human behavior, but also of robots and AI themselves, as well as acknowledging how this sub-discipline may eventually be fundamentally changed through robots and AI. In this sense, our definition mirrors an already existing definition of the field of robophilosophy.

Social robots to support children's well-being under medical treatment: A systematic state-of-the-art review.

Hospitalization is a stressful experience for children. Socially assistive robots (SARs), designed to interact with humans, might be a means to mitigate a child's stress and support its well-being. A systematic state-of-the-art review was performed to inventorize the use of SARs in hospital to support children's well-being and what the effects are. We searched five databases (Cinahl, Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, IEEE), combining terms for 'distress', 'relaxation' and 'well-being' with terms for social robot and child, and did an additional hand search. Ten publications (on eight studies) out of 563 unique titles were considered relevant. Six different robots were used (one humanoid, five pet-like) for distraction during medical procedure, emotional support for dealing with a disease or support of well-being during hospital stay. Positive effects on the children were noted, such as experiencing distraction and engagement, and less stress or pain, more relaxation, smiling and openness or better communication. On a psychiatric ward some youngsters felt unsafe with the robot. The outcomes suggest that SARs may have a potentially positive influence on a child's well-being. Further research is needed to determine the effect of using SARs and how to integrate the use in the working routines of health personnel.