IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018 - 52

risky situation, approximately 48% of respondents indicated it
should be them (i.e., the parent or guardian), 41% indicated
the child should be warned first, 7% selected the child's other
parent or guardian, 2% indicated "another relative or friend of
the child," and 2% stated "my child's physician or other healthcare provider." The fairly divided split here between warning the
parent first versus warning the user (i.e., the child)
indicates that the design
Robots are beginning to
pathway roboticists use
with respect to safety consiplay a role in the physical
derations needs to be investigated more fully. One
rehabilitation of children,
option to consider is allowing parents to toggle the
making it essential to
warning system depending
on their preferences.
understand how their
In terms of the best
method of notifying the
use could change or
child wearing an exoskeleton if a risky situation
increase the risks faced by
emerges, approximately
32% of respondents sugpediatric patients.
gested an audio warning,
34% indicated a visual
warning, 14% indicated that the device should vibrate, 6%
indicated that the device should slow down, and 14% indicated that the device should stop working. Of course, the
parents' expressed preferences are likely contingent on
the physical and mental capabilities of their children.
In terms of the best method of notifying the parents if
their child encounters a risky situation, approximately 8%
wanted the health-care provider to inform them, 30% indicated that the robot should have an audio warning, 16% indicated that the robot should have a visual warning, and 46%
indicated that their phones should receive a call or a text message. A fairly large divide is seen here in terms of what design
pathway parents would recommend to roboticists.
The survey also included a few open-response questions
(see Table 1). Reacting to "What is your biggest concern about
what your child might try to do while wearing a robotic exoskeleton?," most parents briefly expressed concerns about
safety without providing much specific detail. Yet one parent
stated, "I would be afraid that it would give her false confidence and she would fall and hurt herself while running or
climbing." Another indicated, "Because we deal with a cognitive delay, I might have concerns about his ability to judge
what is/isn't safe." Interestingly, a third parent said, "I'm not
sure if my daughter would wear the robotic exoskeleton
because of its appearance."
Responses to "What is your biggest concern about what
might happen to your child while wearing a robotic exoskeleton?" largely pertained to general concerns about their child
falling or getting hurt. However, one parent commented,
"Not only would I worry about her hurting herself by slipping and falling, I'd actually worry about the skeleton itself
52

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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March 2018

hurting her if she fell." Another mentioned "The Hidden
Burden of Exoskeletons for the Disabled," which we assumed
was a reference to an article in The Atlantic focusing on how
exoskeletons may take attention and resources away from
improving a city's infrastructure for disabled individuals
[30]. In summary, the majority of the qualitative results
coalesced around general worries about safety. Some parents,
however, expressed concerns more specifically related to the
use of robotic technologies.
Discussion
Robots are beginning to play a role in the physical rehabilitation of children, making it essential to understand how their
use could change or increase the risks faced by pediatric
patients. The results from our survey suggest that overtrust,
at least as it pertains to the use of exoskeletons, may be a
problem and that additional research should be devoted to
the topic. The current state-of-the-art exoskeletons can provide only limited assistance with slow-speed walking under
controlled conditions.
When subjects were asked to indicate one or more situations (they could select multiple choices) in which their
child would want to use the device, most respondents selected more than one option. Of the 185 total selections collected from the 97 respondents, 102 of those responses (55%)
indicated activities, such as climbing, that an exoskeleton is
not currently designed to perform or that would place the
child at significant risk if they were attempted. These
responses were despite the fact that 83% of respondents
claimed to have a high comfort level with robotic technologies (i.e., they are very or somewhat comfortable with new
advanced technology, such as a robotic device, that they had
not used before). Although only 45% of the participants
indicated their child is somewhat or much more cautious
compared with other children, more than 62% indicated
they would typically or completely trust their child to handle risky situations with the technology.
In short, most of the surveyed parents would trust their
child to use an exoskeleton even though they are aware that
their child may attempt risky activities. Parents seem to think
the technology will protect their child from harm even in
circumstances where it is not fully capable of doing so. They
appear to accept a level of risk that is not warranted by
either the child's abilities or the machine's capabilities. In other
words, the results suggest that overtrust may be occurring in
the sense that parents might accept risk because they believe
that the combination of the child and exoskeleton can perform a function that the device cannot, or the parents accept
too much risk because the expectation is that the exoskeleton will mitigate the risk.
While our study has limitations, including its relatively
small sample size, its findings lend some credence to the
notion that parents may exhibit characteristics of overtrust in
scenarios involving their children interacting with robotic
exoskeletons. While familiar with robotic technology in general, the parents may not have the experience to estimate the



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018

Contents
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018 - Cover1
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018 - Cover2
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