The USC Professor Who Pioneered Socially Assistive Robotics

The Pioneering Work of Maja Matarić: Revolutionizing Socially Assistive Robotics

Maja Matarić, a renowned professor of computer science, neuroscience, and pediatrics at the University of Southern California (USC), has spent her career pushing the boundaries of socially assistive robotics. Her groundbreaking work has transformed the field, enabling robots to provide personalized therapy and care through social interactions. As an associate professor at USC, Matarić has developed robots that can have conversations, play games, and respond to emotions, revolutionizing the way we interact with machines.

From Industrial Robotics to Socially Assistive Robotics

Matarić's journey began in the field of industrial robotics, where she was introduced to the concept through a textbook while pursuing her bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Kansas. After earning her degree in 1987, she had the opportunity to continue her education as a graduate student at MIT's AI Lab (now the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab). During her first year, she explored the different research projects being conducted by faculty members, including Rodney Brooks, who was working on novel reactive and behavior-based robotic systems. Inspired by Brooks' work, Matarić joined his lab and conducted her master's thesis under his tutelage.

Developing Toto: The First Navigating Behavior-Based Robot

Matarić's work on Toto, the first navigating behavior-based robot, was a significant milestone in her career. Toto used distributed models to map the AI Lab building where Matarić worked and plan its path to different rooms. Toto used sonar to detect walls, doors, and furniture, according to Matarić's paper, "The Robotics Primer." This pioneering work laid the foundation for her future research in socially assistive robotics.

Founding the Interaction Lab and Exploring Socially Assistive Robotics

In 2002, Matarić helped to found the Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems (now the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center) at USC. The RASC focuses on research into human-centric and scalable robotic systems and promotes interdisciplinary partnerships across USC. Matarić's shift in her research came after she gave birth to her first child in 1998. When her daughter was a bit older and asked Matarić why she worked with robots, she wanted to be able to "say something better than 'I publish a lot of research papers,' or 'it's well-recognized,'" she says. "In academia, you can be in a leadership role and still do research. It's a wonderful and important opportunity that lets academics be on top of our field and also train the next generation of students and help the next generation of faculty colleagues."

Developing Bandit: A Robot for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

One of the longest research projects Matarić has led at her Interaction Lab is exploring how socially assistive robots can help improve the communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a lifelong neurological condition that affects the way people interact with others, and the way they learn. Children with ASD often struggle with social behaviors such as reading nonverbal cues, playing with others, and making eye contact. Matarić and her team developed a robot, Bandit, that can play games with a child and give the youngster words of affirmation. Bandit is 56 centimeters tall and has a humanlike head, torso, and arms. Its head can pan and tilt. The robot uses two FireWire cameras as its eyes, and it has a movable mouth and eyebrows, allowing it to exhibit a variety of facial expressions.

From Bandit to Blossom: Personalized Socially Assistive Robots

Matarić's line of research began when she learned that large language model (LLM) chatbots were being promoted to help people with mental health struggles, she said in an episode of the AMA Medical News podcast. "It is generally not easy to get [an appointment with a] therapist, or there might not be insurance coverage," she said. "These, combined with the rates of anxiety and depression, created a real need." That made the chatbot idea appealing, she says, but she was interested to see if they were effective compared with a friendly robot such as Blossom. Matarić and her team used the same LLMs to power CBT practice with a chatbot and with Blossom. They ran a two-week study in the USC dorms, where students were randomly assigned to complete CBT exercises daily with either a chatbot or the robot. Participants filled out a clinical assessment to measure their psychiatric distress before and after each session.

The Future of Socially Assistive Robotics: Personalization and Clinical Trials

Based on those findings, in 2024 Matarić received a grant from the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a six-week clinical trial to explore how effective a socially assistive robot could be at delivering CBT practice. The trial, currently underway, also is expected to study how Blossom can be personalized to adapt to each user's preferences and progress, including the way the robot moves, which exercises it recommends, and what feedback it gives. During the trial, the 120 students participating are wearing Fitbits to study their physiologic responses. The participants fill out a clinical assessment to measure their psychiatric distress before and after each session.

Joining the IEEE Community: A Personal and Professional Impact

Matarić joined IEEE as a graduate student in 1992, the year she published her first paper in IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation. The paper, "Integration of Representation Into Goal-Driven Behavior-Based Robots," described her work on Toto. As a member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, she says she has gained a community of like-minded people. She enjoys attending conferences including the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, and the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, which is closest to her field of research.

Conclusion

Maja Matarić's pioneering work in socially assistive robotics has transformed the field, enabling robots to provide personalized therapy and care through social interactions. Her groundbreaking research has paved the way for a new generation of robots that can have conversations, play games, and respond to emotions. As we look to the future, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of socially assistive robotics, from personalized therapy to clinical trials.

Source: https://spectrum.ieee.org/socially-assistive-robotics