Aimée Sousa Calepso, Anna Belardinelli, Valerie Behrwind, Christine Knoll, Sarah B. Blakeslee, Bernhard Sendhoff, "Toward automated interactions for pediatric inpatients using a social robot", 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2026): Workshop on Robots for Care, 2026.

We report on the deployment of the Haru social robot in a pediatric oncology ward to reduce social isolation and detail the main challenges faced during the process. We started with a semi-scripted interaction to gain insights about potential technical and psycho-social issues with such sensitive population, before moving to more flexible and automated conversations. We placed the robot in patients' single rooms and tested simple dialogues, after which we interviewed caregivers and children about the interaction. Such a preliminary effort revealed practical challenges that would critically affect the fluidity of the interaction, even if related to low-level, basic infrastructure. We also report on the introduction of the robot in a new environment and lessons learned on the importance of bringing technological awareness to this process.