Robot and Play – from Assistance to Mediation

Playing is an important part of daily life interactions as well as a substantial and joyful part in the life of children. It can be relaxing, exciting children can play a role and it is an important possibility to get in touch with other children. In a long term field study the authors have evaluated a robot system which supports severe physically disabled children when playing with LEGObricks. The very positive feedback of this study and the promising results of related work at other institutions set the basis for a new research study on the use of robotic systems as mediators during playing activities. The paper describes the motivation of this work, gives a short description of the previous work with the PlayROB system developed by the authors as well as of the new research project IROMEC.