Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are the fastest-growing group of children with special education needs. ASD affects individuals from all walks of life, regardless of race, ethnicity, educational levels of family members, or socio-economic backgrounds. People on the autism spectrum have difficulty communicating and establishing socio-emotional connections with other human beings, making teaching those with ASD challenging for their human teachers.Most research in the field of autism has focused on the clinical aspects of the condition and on the individuals who are on the spectrum. However, research into the perception of the teachers charged with educating ASD students is more limited. In addition, while a wide range of technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and social robots, have been used in various forms to assist with teaching ASD students, research into teacher perceptions with respect to the use of these technologies is also limited. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher perceptions of the use of a social robot as a teaching assistant to help them educate students on the autism spectrum. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, this study was conducted under unprecedented circumstances, when all schools throughout the United States were closed, and all teaching was conducted online using video conferencing technologies. Teachers from an autism specialist school in northern California were asked to use a social robot as a teaching assistant with a selection of ASD students during their online Zoom-based video conference teaching sessions. Data were gathered through observations of these sessions and through teacher interviews and a focus group. This study was conducted using the persuasive technologies conceptual framework. This framework was enhanced to include the teacher as a new persuasive influencer. The findings from this study revealed that ASD teachers found the social robot to be a useful tool to use as a teaching assistant. In particular, teachers found the use of a social robot teaching assistant offered a new approach to teaching and new ways to communicate with and engage their ASD students. Overall, students responded well to instructions and feedback given by the robot. However, student reactions ranged from neutral to very engaged, based upon the complexity of the task the student was undertaking and their general interest in technologically related topics. Importantly, no student reacted negatively to the inclusion of the robot. This report highlights a variety of operational challenges that the teachers experience in integrating the robot into their teaching practices and identifies a range of future research opportunities.

For this thesis, I created a guideline for socially assistive robots (SARs), and used it to evaluate a reading comprehension based social robot. To create the guideline I extracted relevant details from published standards about toy safety, radio equipment, electromagnetic compatibility, internet of things security, ethical considerations for human-computer interaction, and data privacy. I then sent a summarized version to experts in the field for feedback. I received seven responses, five of whom were from researchers in academia. The sample size was too small for statistical analysis. Survey responses identified additional areas, such as interactivity and aesthetics, for the guideline. I evaluated a reading comprehension based social robot called HAPI the Librarian with my newly created guidelines. Using HAPI, I found that the guidelines worked, but needed improvement. Improvements suggested for the next iteration of the guide- line are to provide better directives for intangible concepts such as ethics and data privacy. Additionally, the guidelines should help to identify characteristics that raise ethical or data privacy concerns. Overall, these guidelines can be applied to socially assistive robots designed from scratch or purchased off-the-shelf.

The world of animation has painted an inspiring image of what the robots of the future could be. Taking the robots R2D2 and C3PO from the Star Wars films as representative examples, these robots are portrayed as being more than just machines, rather, they are presented as intelligent and capable social peers, exhibiting many of the traits that people have also. These robots have the ability to interact with people, understand us, and even relate to us in very personal ways through a wide repertoire of social cues. As robotic technologies continue to make their way into society at large, there is a growing trend toward making social robots. The field of Human-Robot Interaction concerns itself with studying, developing and realising these socially capable machines, equipping them with a very rich variety of capabilities that allow them to interact with people in natural and intuitive ways, ranging from the use of natural language, body language and facial gestures, to more unique ways such as expression through colours and abstract sounds. This thesis studies the use of abstract, expressive sounds, like those used iconically by the robot R2D2. These are termed Non-Linguistic Utterances (NLUs) and are a means of communication which has a rich history in film and animation. However, very little is understood about how such expressive sounds may be utilised by social robots, and how people respond to these. This work presents a series of experiments aimed at understanding how NLUs can be utilised by a social robot in order to convey affective meaning to people both young and old, and what factors impact on the production and perception of NLUs. Firstly, it is shown that not all robots should use NLUs. The morphology of the robot matters. People perceive NLUs differently across different robots, and not always in a desired manner. Next it is shown that people readily project affective meaning onto NLUs though not in a coherent manner. Furthermore, people's affective inferences are not subtle, rather they are drawn to well established, basic affect prototypes. Moreover, it is shown that the valence of the situation in which an NLU is made, overrides the initial valence of the NLU itself: situational context biases how people perceive utterances made by a robot, and through this, coherence between people in their affective inferences is found to increase. Finally, it is uncovered that NLUs are best not used as a replacement to natural language (as they are by R2D2), rather, people show a preference for them being used alongside natural language where they can play a supportive role by providing essential social cues.

Syftet med examensarbetet är att beskriva vad ett antal lärare tänker kring hur en social robot skulle kunna underlätta skolsituationen för hemmasittare. Då det inte finns någon utbredd erfarenhet inom området utgår undersökningen från hur den sociala roboten fungerar för elever med hög frånvaro till följd av av sjukdom. Fyra intervjuer gjordes med lärare som har erfarenhet av arbete med den sociala roboten AV1. Utgångspunkten i intervjuerna var att fånga hur lärarna tänker att sociala robotar skulle kunna vara ett alternativ för att underlätta skolåtergång för hemmasittare. Även lärarnas erfarenheter kring hur en social robot skulle kunna användas till elever med t.ex. social fobi eller autism efterfrågades.Intervjuerna analyserades ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med hjälp av kodning och tematisering av innehållet i de transkriberade intervjuerna. I intervjuerna har det inte framkommit någon entydig bild i frågan om en social robot skulle kunna användas i syfte att få tillbaka hemmasittare till skolan. Däremot har vi i en av intervjuerna funnit exempel på att det kan fungera och fått ta del av vilka möjligheter och hinder respondenterna ser. Respondenter har alla uttryckt sig positivt om att använda sociala robotar i klassrummet för att en frånvarande elev ska kunna fortsätta ta del av undervisningen i klassrummet. Däremot var alla inte lika positiva när det kom till att använda sociala robotar för att försöka få hemmasittare tillbaka till skolanI examensarbetets slutliga del diskuteras implikationerna av resultatet och vilka nya frågor som väckts. Sociala robotar är ganska nya företeelser i skolans värld och arbetet har lett till att vi har fått upp ögonen för att det finns många nya områden att undersöka för att få reda på vilka möjligheter de sociala robotarna kan erbjuda. Det är en ny värld med nya verktyg och nya metoder vi behöver lära oss leva i. Allt nytt är inte bra men allt nytt är heller inte dåligt. / The aim of this thesis is to describe the thoughts of a number of teachers regarding how a social robot could be helpful in school situations for children who have long-term school absenteeism (remote students). There is no current research in this area, thus this investigation focus on how the social robot works for students with high absence due to illness instead.Four interviews were conducted with teachers with experience working with the social robot AV1. The starting point in the interviews was to capture how the teachers think the social robots could be an alternative to facilitate the return to school for remote students. Also the teachers´ experience on how a social robot could be used for students with problems such as social phobia or autism was discussed.The interviews were analysed from a socio-cultural perspective with assistance from coding and thematization from the content in the transcribed interviews.Based on the interviews, no distinct conclusion could be drawn regarding the success of a social robot in promoting the return to school of remote students. However, we have found examples in one interview which supported the use of the social robot, and were able to note the possibilities and obstacles according to the respondents. All the respondents have expressed themselves in a positive way about using social robots in the classroom. However, all were not as positive regarding the use of social robots to attempt to get children who have long-term school absenteeism back to school.In the final part of the thesis the amplifications of the results are discussed and what new questions that have arisen. The concept of social robots is a rather new phenomenon in the school environment and our work has demonstrated that there are many new areas to research to find out what new possibilities the social robots can offer. This is a new world with tools and methods that are novel, but which can be beneficial to education. Rather than being intimidated by innovative technology instruments, we must embrace their possibilities for enhancing student learning.

The use of social robots is often seen as a solution for handling future challenges such as caring for a growing population of elderly people. However, previous research has shown that robots can be perceived as threatening and for a successful implementation of robots in society we are dependent on the public’s acceptance of the technology. This thesis investigates whether transparency about robots’ lack of human-like psychological capabilities can reduce the perceived damage of robots on humans and human identity (henceforth “perceived damage”), and whether the effect of such transparency is moderated by the human-like appearance of the robot. Ninety-two study participants, randomly assigned to either a transparent or neutral condition, were presented with pictures and descriptions of four robots that varied in human-likeness. The capabilities of the robots were differently described in the two conditions, using either non-psychological (e.g., “programmed responses”) or psychological terminology (e.g., “respond in natural manner”). Participants subsequently filled in a scale measuring perceived damage. The results showed that the transparent condition was associated with lower perceived damage than the non-transparent condition for the most human-like robot. There was no significant interaction effect between transparency and human-like appearance. The findings suggest that transparency about robots' lack of human-like psychological capabilities can have a positive effect on perceived damage when the robot has a very human-like appearance. However, further research is needed to investigate whether transparency reduces perceived damage in real-world interactions with robots.

In this thesis, I will discuss the conceptualization of existential loneliness in the early writings of the German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), especially his lecture “Einsamkeit” (1915/1916) and Philosophie (1932). I will try to elucidate the dynamics and processes involved in existential loneliness and its overcoming in existential communication. I will show that the shared objective world is the only medium for existential communication. The intersubjective encounter in the shared objective world is the occasion for the reciprocal taking/demanding responsibility, which will stimulate the inner dialectical movement of existential loneliness, i.e., between autonomy and authenticity. I will argue that existential loneliness is not something substantially negative or a disease that we must cure but a vital and creative process that makes us human. Blocking this process will have devastating consequences since it will impede the isolated person from being him/herself. Furthermore, I will discuss a few possible applications of the examined processes in human-robot interaction since the efficiency of the robots in helping humans overcome their existential loneliness will depend on their capacity to perform the processes discussed in this thesis.

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In this contribution, we investigate the privacy implications of social robots as an emerging mobile technology. Drawing on a scoping literature review and expert interviews, we show how social robots come with privacy implications that go beyond those of established mobile technology. Social robots challenge not only users’ informational privacy but also affect their physical, psychological, and social privacy due to their autonomy and potential for social bonding. These distinctive privacy challenges require study from varied theoretical perspectives, with contextual privacy and human–machine communication emerging as particularly fruitful lenses. Findings also point to an increasing focus on technological privacy solutions, complementing an evolving legal landscape as well as a strengthening of user agency and literacy.

As the number of immigrants in Sweden rises, the demand for alternative methods for language learning increases simultaneously. The use of social robots for teaching a second language is a promising field. The following research question has been designed to identify how social robots can be improved to better suit second language learners. The research question is: Which criteria are important for the user experience when interacting with a language cafe robot? The main method used to answer the question is Design Thinking with the help of semi-structured interviews. The results were 12 criteria which can be implemented for social robots in the future. The research has also studied how the criteria can be implemented in robots and to what degree the robot Furhat developed by Furhat robotics has implemented the criteria today. / I takt med det stigande antalet immigranter i Sverige ökar efterfrågan på alternativa metoder för språkinlärning. Användningen av sociala robotar för att undervisa andraspråk är ett lovande fält. Följande forskningsfråga har utformats för att identifiera hur sociala robotar kan förbättras för att anpassas till elever som lär sig andraspråk. Forskningsfrågan lyder enligt följande: Vilka kriterier är viktiga för användarupplevelsen när man interagerar med en språkcaférobot? Den huvudsakliga metoden som används för att svara på frågan är Design Thinking med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet var 12 kriterier som kan implementeras för sociala robotar i framtiden. Rapporten har också studerat hur kriterierna kan implementeras i robotar och i vilken grad roboten Furhat som utvecklats av Furhat Robotics har implementerat kriterierna idag.

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