Identifying opportunities for social robots in youth services : A case study of a youth guidance center

Abstract

Youth guidance services provide information and advice for young people, but often have limited resources and time to address all needs especially related to social interaction. Guided by the principles of Integrative Social Robotics, we conducted a case study of a youth guidance center to recognize central values and needs of clients and staff, based on which to identify possible opportunities for social interactions enabled by robots. The study consisted of a context study and an interview with a staff member, and an online questionnaire for young people (n=8) who had visited the center. The youth’s needs included conversational support and alleviation of anxiety; the staff’s needs involved getting feedback and provision of conversational support. The central values suggested by the youth were compassion, encouragement, respect, honesty, and safety, with acceptance as the overarching theme. Based on the findings, we discuss possible social robotic concepts and implications on design process and institutional practices. We also propose that values can be formulated as experience goals to guide the design process.