Arts + health: New approaches to arts and robots in health care

Abstract

We describe the implementation and evaluation of a public interactive robotic art installation in a rehabilitation hospital. The project had two goals; to provide an enjoyable and novel artistic experience for the hospital community, and to better understand how human-centred robotics, particularly a receptive-focused intervention, might promote wellbeing and quality of life for members of hospital communities. By evaluating the experiences of the participants and stakeholders, the value of the installation for participants was assessed. This work contributes relevant insight towards the development of future art installations within the health jurisdiction and more broadly. The data also informs the ongoing discussion concerning the potential role of social and therapeutic robots in health care settings.