Inclusive Design

In general, the design of humanoid robots is made to be as broad and inclusive as possible. By having audio, visual, and haptic support, the robot is accessible, even if the user is limited in what they can do. In our design choices, we did not specifically think about inclusivity, and this can be seen in the downsides which will be listed below.

Accessibility

The robot is accessible to some degree. The main interaction between the patient and the robot happens in the form of a discussion, so deaf patients are entirely excluded. One way of mitigating this is to make use of video support, through a tablet or phone. The NAO also has haptic support on its head and limbs, which could also be used (for example touch the front of the head to answer "No" or the back of the head for "Yes", but it does not help with communicating the question itself which is the main issue). As the focus of our design is associating music with tasks, we decided not to focus on accessibility for deaf people, and instead assume that the patients can hear both the robot and the music.