e-MoBo, a Low-Cost, "Robo-Mediator" Helping Therapists Teach Children How to Express Emotions: Insights from Field Testing

Parental estrangement can cause long-term harm to socio-emotional skills, mental health and wellbeing. This is pronounced for children who experienced trauma. "Robo-Therapists" have been used to train children to express emotions, but such robots are often "human replacements" and tend to be too costly to deploy widely. We propose e-MoBo, a low-cost, non-humanoid "Robo-Mediator" of our own design to train children’s socio-emotional skills towards creating stronger relationships with others. We report on the developing e-MoBo and results of a field study with the current prototype and 14 neurotypical children, ages 5-9, as we prepare to deploy e-MoBo in a residential center with traumatized children. Our results suggest that e-MoBo, compared to a control, helps children express emotions, offering the promise of a low-cost, non-anthropomorphic, Robo-Mediator meeting children’s needs.