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Towards a Robot Computational Model to Preserve Dignity in Stigmatizing Patient-Caregiver Relationships

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Social Robotics (ICSR 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9388))

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Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with an expressive mask are particularly vulnerable to stigmatization during interactions with their caregivers due to their inability to express affect through nonverbal channels. Our approach to uphold PD patient dignity is through the use of an ethical robot that mediates patient shame when it recognizes norm violations in the patient-caregiver interaction. This paper presents the basis for a computational model tasked with computing patient shame and the empathetic response of a caregiver during “empathetic opportunities” in their interaction. A PD patient is liable to suffer indignity when there is a substantial difference between his experienced shame and the empathy shown by the caregiver. When this difference falls outside of acceptable set bounds (norms), the robotic agent will act using subtle, nonverbal cues to guide the relationship back within these bounds, preserving patient dignity.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Interactive Computing, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Michael J. Pettinati & Ronald C. Arkin

Authors
  1. Michael J. Pettinati
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  2. Ronald C. Arkin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J. Pettinati .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics and Computer Vision Lab, ENSTA-ParisTech, Palaiseau, France

    Adriana Tapus

  2. Inst für Informatik, Human-Ctr Multimedi, Universität Augsburg, Augsburg, Bayern, Germany

    Elisabeth André

  3. LIMSI-CNRS, Orsay, France

    Jean-Claude Martin

  4. Robotics and Computer Vision Lab, ENSTA-ParisTech, Palaiseau, France

    François Ferland

  5. LIMSI-CNRS, Orsay, France

    Mehdi Ammi

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Pettinati, M.J., Arkin, R.C. (2015). Towards a Robot Computational Model to Preserve Dignity in Stigmatizing Patient-Caregiver Relationships. In: Tapus, A., André, E., Martin, JC., Ferland, F., Ammi, M. (eds) Social Robotics. ICSR 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9388. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5_53

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5_53

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25553-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25554-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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