CHARGE​

Imagining the Future of Robotics for Paediatric Care

​at BC Children's Hospital

This project investigates how social robots might improve the experience for children and families visiting BC Children’s Hospital.

Why is this research important? 

Social robots– small robot or pet-like characters– can be useful in children's hospitals. They can be a distraction when getting vaccinations, a social intervention, or used in physical therapy. However, we need to know more about what children and families think about using these robots to improve experiences at BC Children's Hospital (BCCH).

The goal of this study is to explore the perspectives of children and families around the design, application and ethical issues of using social robots to improve patient experiences at BCCH.

What does this study involve?

This study has two parts

• Creating a Hospital based Adventure Robot Game Experience (CHARGE).  CHARGE is an interactive robot survey exclusively available for children and families visiting BCCH.

• Co-creation workshops with children and families from across British Columbia, to take a deeper dive into perspectives about using social robots at the hospital. The 90 minute co-creation workshops will take place online, or in-person at BCCH.​​​​

We're Recruiting!

For the co-creation workshops, we're looking for

• Children (aged 7-18) and their family members (adults) who have visited BCCH
• Living in British Columbia, Canada

The project is being led by Susanna Martin, Research Assistant in the NEST Lab. To participate, 
register your interest [here]

External Contributors

John Jacobs, Co-Investigator - University of British Columbia; Digital Lab, BC Children's Hospital
Mary Mackillop, Collaborator - Patient Experience, BC Children's Hospital 
The League, Lived Experience Expert Group - NEST Lab

Funders

We are proud to have received funding for this project from the Child Health Integrative Partnership Strategy Committee (CHIPS) at BCCH