The video introduces Pepper, a humanoid robot, which can provide social, physical, and emotional support for older adults and people with disabilities. In the video, Pepper teaches a person how to do a fist bump, reads a story, and plays a game. Socially assistive robots like Pepper may offer an innovative approach for significantly increasing the capabilities and social participation of people with disabilities across environments of their choice.
Wireless RERC researcher, John Bricout, PhD, who is the director of the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMN), and Dr. Julienne A. Greer and collaborators at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Emotional Robotics Living Lab, are investigating the socially assistive capabilities of “Pepper,” a versatile 4-foot tall humanoid robot. Pepper can provide social, physical and emotional support for older adults and people with disabilities. Bricout notes “the broad aim of our work is to extend the capabilities and quality of life of older adults and people with disabilities, leveraged by socially assistive robotics as partners in learning and action.”
TBI Rehabilitation 