Design, Development, and Use of Maya Robot as an Assistant for the Therapy/Education of Children with Cancer: a Pilot Study

2026-02-11

AI Summary

This study addresses pain and anxiety experienced by pediatric cancer patients during treatment by designing and developing Maya, a portable social robot. The system uniquely integrates high-accuracy facial expression recognition—based on a deep neural network with 98% accuracy—with emotionally engaging interactive games within a clinical setting. Human–robot interaction outcomes were evaluated through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) questionnaire and behavioral observation. Results demonstrate that Maya significantly reduces children’s perceived pain during injections (p < 0.05), with their anxiety levels notably lower than those of their parents; furthermore, children exhibited greater trust in the robot. This work validates the efficacy and innovative potential of affective intelligent social robots in enhancing emotional well-being and treatment compliance among pediatric patients.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Social recommender systems and personalization for the social Web
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Social networks and social learning

Abstract

This study centers around the design and implementation of the Maya Robot, a portable elephant-shaped social robot, intended to engage with children undergoing cancer treatment. Initial efforts were devoted to enhancing the robot's facial expression recognition accuracy, achieving a 98% accuracy through deep neural networks. Two subsequent preliminary exploratory experiments were designed to advance the study's objectives. The first experiment aimed to compare pain levels experienced by children during the injection process, with and without the presence of the Maya robot. Twenty-five children, aged 4 to 9, undergoing cancer treatment participated in this counterbalanced study. The paired T-test results revealed a significant reduction in perceived pain when the robot was actively present in the injection room. The second experiment sought to assess perspectives of hospitalized children and their mothers during engagement with Maya through a game. Forty participants, including 20 children aged 4 to 9 and their mothers, were involved. Post Human-Maya Interactions, UTAUT questionnaire results indicated that children experienced significantly less anxiety than their parents during the interaction and game play. Notably, children exhibited higher trust levels in both the robot and the games, presenting a statistically significant difference in trust levels compared to their parents (P-value<0.05). This preliminary exploratory study highlights the positive impact of utilizing Maya as an assistant for therapy/education in a clinical setting, particularly benefiting children undergoing cancer treatment. The findings underscore the potential of social robots in pediatric healthcare contexts, emphasizing improved pain management and emotional well-being among young patients.

Problem

• social robot
• pediatric cancer
• pain management
• anxiety reduction
• child-robot interaction

Innovation

• social robot
• facial expression recognition
• pediatric cancer care
• pain management
• human-robot interaction