LATEST PUBLICATIONS

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  • Inclusive Computational Thinking in Public Schools: A Case Study from Lisbon
  • Ana Cristina Pires, Filipa Rocha, Tiago Guerreiro, and Hugo Nicolau. 2024. Inclusive Computational Thinking in Public Schools: A Case Study from Lisbon. Interactions 31, 4: 32–37. http://doi.org/10.1145/3665992
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  • Enhancing Cancer Care through Design: Understanding Multidisciplinary Teams
  • Soraia F Paulo, Nuno Figueiredo, Daniel S Lopes, and Hugo Nicolau. 2024. Enhancing Cancer Care through Design: Understanding Multidisciplinary Teams. Companion Publication of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Association for Computing Machinery, 135–139. http://doi.org/10.1145/3656156.3663718
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  The surge of Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) has transformed healthcare, moving from siloed medical teams to collaborative units comprising professionals from diverse medical specialties. Despite their global adoption and recognized benefits, there is a research gap regarding the current context and dynamics of MDT Meetings (MDTMs), hindering the design of systems tailored to this context. This study delves into cancer MDTMs, highlighting emerging practices and challenges. We conducted an observational study across three hospitals, uncovering the intricate interplay of organizational, technological, and interpersonal factors. Our insights emphasize the complexities of MDTMs, including physical infrastructure, MDTM’s discussion structure, and adaptability, revealing challenges in information management and turn-taking strategies. By addressing these dimensions, our aim is to inform the development of more efficient and effective MDTMs in healthcare.
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  • Storytelling with ALMA: A Multisensory Approach to Enhance Kindergarteners’ Emotion Regulation
  • Katharina Buckmayer, Hugo Nicolau, and Ana Cristina Pires. 2024. Storytelling with ALMA: A Multisensory Approach to Enhance Kindergarteners’ Emotion Regulation. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, Association for Computing Machinery, 887–891. http://doi.org/10.1145/3628516.3659412
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  This work-in-progress presents ALMA, an innovative prototype for storytelling with a smart soft toy inspired by Snoezelen principles. Its objective is to improve children’s emotion regulation while facilitating children’s exploration of sensory perceptions, emotion labeling, and self-reflection. While current methods in Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) frequently emphasize individual aspects like storytelling or multisensory experiences, there is a gap in interactive storytelling incorporating soft toys that integrate multisensory and Snoezelen principles, despite the well-documented advantages of such integration. By leveraging the synergies between multisensory experiences and storytelling, ALMA seeks to foster children’s emotion regulation and, therefore a holistic development.
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  • Conveying Emotions through Shape-changing to Children with and without Visual Impairment
  • Isabel Neto, Yuhan Hu, Filipa Correia, et al. 2024. Conveying Emotions through Shape-changing to Children with and without Visual Impairment. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Association for Computing Machinery. http://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642525
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  Shape-changing skin is an exciting modality due to its accessible and engaging nature. Its softness and flexibility make it adaptable to different interactive devices that children with and without visual impairments can share. Although their potential as an emotionally expressive medium has been shown for sighted adults, their potential as an inclusive modality remains unexplored. This work explores the shape-emotional mappings in children with and without visual impairment. We conducted a user study with 50 children (26 with visual impairment) to investigate their emotional associations with five skin shapes and two movement conditions. Results show that shape-emotional mappings are dependent on visual abilities. Our study raises awareness of the influence of visual experiences on tactile vocabulary and emotional mapping among sighted, low-vision, and blind children. We finish discussing the causal associations between tactile stimuli and emotions and suggest inclusive design recommendations for shape-changing devices.
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  • The Effects of Observing Robotic Ostracism on Children’s Prosociality and Basic Needs Honorable Mention
  • Filipa Correia, Isabel Neto, Soraia Paulo, et al. 2024. The Effects of Observing Robotic Ostracism on Children’s Prosociality and Basic Needs. Proceedings of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Association for Computing Machinery, 157–166. http://doi.org/10.1145/3610977.3634997
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  Research on robotic ostracism is still scarce and has only explored its effects on adult populations. Although the results revealed important carryover effects of robotic exclusion, there is no evidence yet that those results occur in child-robot interactions. This paper provides the first exploration of robotic ostracism with children. We conducted a study using the Robotic Cyberball Paradigm in a third-person perspective with a sample of 52 children aged between five to ten years old. The experimental study had two conditions: Exclusion and Inclusion. In the Exclusion condition, children observed a peer being excluded by two robots; while in the Inclusion condition, the observed peer interacted equally with the robots. Notably, even 5-year-old children could discern when robots excluded another child. Children who observed exclusion reported lower levels of belonging and control, and exhibited higher prosocial behaviour than those witnessing inclusion. However, no differences were found in children’s meaningful existence, self-esteem, and physical proximity across conditions. Our user study provides important methodological considerations for applying the Robotic Cyberball Paradigm with children. The results extend previous literature on both robotic ostracism with adults and interpersonal ostracism with children. We finish discussing the broader implications of children observing ostracism in human-robot interactions.
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  • "I’m Not Touching You. It’s The Robot!": Inclusion Through A Touch-Based Robot Among Mixed-Visual Ability Children Honorable Mention
  • Isabel Neto, Yuhan Hu, Filipa Correia, et al. 2024. "I’m Not Touching You. It’s The Robot!": Inclusion Through A Touch-Based Robot Among Mixed-Visual Ability Children. Proceedings of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Association for Computing Machinery, 511–521. http://doi.org/10.1145/3610977.3634992
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  Children with visual impairments often struggle to fully participate in group activities due to limited access to visual cues. They have difficulty perceiving what is happening, when, and how to act-leading to children with and without visual impairments being frustrated with the group activity, reducing mutual interactions. To address this, we created Touchibo, a tactile storyteller robot acting in a multisensory setting, encouraging touch-based interactions. Touchibo provides an inclusive space for group interaction as touch is a highly accessible modality in a mixed-visual ability context. In a study involving 107 children (37 with visual impairments), we compared Touchibo to an audio-only storyteller. Results indicate that Touchibo significantly improved children’s individual and group participation perception, sparking touch-based interactions and the storyteller was more likable and helpful. Our study highlights touch-based robots’ potential to enrich children’s social interactions by prompting interpersonal touch, particularly in mixed-visual ability settings.
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  • Inclusion as a Process: Co-Designing an Inclusive Robotic Game with Neurodiverse Classrooms Best Paper Award Nominee
  • Patricia Piedade, Isabel Neto, Ana Cristina Pires, Rui Prada, and Hugo Nicolau. 2024. Inclusion as a Process: Co-Designing an Inclusive Robotic Game with Neurodiverse Classrooms. Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Association for Computing Machinery. http://doi.org/10.1145/3663548.3675664
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  Neurodivergent children spend most of their time in neurodiverse schools alongside their neurotypical peers and often face social exclusion. Inclusive play activities are a strong vehicle of inclusion. Unfortunately, games designed for the specific needs of neurodiverse groups are scarce. Given the potential of robots to support play, we led a co-design process to build an inclusive robotic game for neurodiverse classrooms. We conducted five co-design workshops, engaging 80 children from neurodiverse classrooms in designing an inclusive game. Employing the resulting design insights, we iteratively prototyped and playtested a tabletop robotic game leveraging off-the-shelf robots. Reflecting upon our findings, we discuss how the longitudinal co-design process (rather than the resulting game) was key in allowing children the space to learn how to accommodate accessibility needs and create inclusive play experiences. We posit the use of co-design to enhance children’s interpersonal relationships, fosters feelings of ownership, and encourages appropriation practices as a strategy to sustain inclusive experiences that extend beyond project timelines or artefact designs.