Could robots be used to detect mental health issues in kids?
A recent study revealed that robots may be more effective than parent-reported or self-reported tests in diagnosing mental health disorders in youngsters. With colleagues in Cambridge's Department of Psychiatry, Gunes and her team designed an experiment to see if robots could be a useful tool to assess mental wellbeing in children. "There are times when traditional methods aren't able to catch mental wellbeing lapses in children, as sometimes the changes are incredibly subtle," said Nida Itrat Abbasi, the study's first author. "Since the robot we use is child-sized and completely non-threatening, children might see the robot as a confidante -- they feel like they won't get into trouble if they share secrets with it," said Abbasi. "We don't have any intention of replacing psychologists or other mental health professionals with robots, since their expertise far surpasses anything a robot can do," said co-author Dr Micol Spitale.
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