Creating a navigation system for autonomous companion robots has always been a difficult process, which must contend with a dynamically changing environment, which is populated by a myriad of obstructions and an unspecific number of people, other than the intended person, to follow. This study documents the implementation of an indoor autonomous robot navigation model, based on multi-sensor fusion, using Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4 (MRDS). The model relies on a depth camera, a limited array of proximity sensors and an active IR marker tracking system. This allows the robot to lock onto the correct target for human-following, while approximating the best starting direction to begin maneuvering around obstacles for minimum required motion. The system is implemented according to a navigation algorithm that transforms the data from all three types of sensors into tendency arrays and fuses them to determine whether to take a leftward or rightward route around an encountered obstacle. The decision process considers visible short, medium and long-range obstructions and the current position of the target person. The system is implemented using MRDS and its functional test performance is presented over a series of Virtual Simulation Environment scenarios, greenlighting further extensive benchmark simulations.
INTRODUCTION: It is crucial to educate childhood cancer patients (CCPs) about their illness and motivate them for cancer treatment and treatment side-effects management. OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the design, development and pilot evaluation of the proposed serious game intervention with CCPs in Malaysia. METHODS: A single-centre, single-arm intervention was conducted with CCPs (n=8). Surveys were done pre-test and posttest. RESULTS: The Protection Motivation Theory was used to measure the participants' motivation. Self-reported surveys with CCPs and caregiver dyads showed a significant increase in participants' intention to use cancer treatment. Although the increase in the intention to use daily self-care and cancer knowledge survey scores was not substantial, the post-test caregivers' feedback revealed that the game was beneficial for their children. CONCLUSION: Early results of the study have shown the intervention's potential to boost the knowledge and motivations of CCPs.
Objective Childhood cancer patients need to have good treatment adherence. Unfortunately, treatment non-adherence often occurs due to high side-effect burdens of treatment and the lack of knowledge of one's illness and treatment. Therefore, a serious game intervention based on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) was designed and developed to motivate childhood cancer patients to undergo treatment and to motivate them to undergo treatment, perform daily self-care and educate them about their illness. Methods Childhood cancer patients (6–17 years old) and their caregivers were recruited in a multi-centre, single-arm intervention in Malaysia. A total of 24 child-caregiver dyads have completed the study. This study used PMT-based surveys to collect quantitative data regarding children's motivation to adhere to treatment and perform daily self-care. Additionally, a 20-question multiple-choice quiz was used to determine children's knowledge levels. These surveys were conducted pre-test and post-test. Children's and caregivers' feedback were also gathered post-test as qualitative data. Results The results showed that overall, the children's intention to undergo cancer treatment had increased significantly. A significant increase in the intention to perform daily self-care was found among younger children, while older children showed significant improvement in their cancer knowledge levels. The post-test feedback suggested that the game was liked by both children and caregivers and it provided various benefits to children with cancer. Conclusions Findings suggest that the intervention has the potential to improve childhood cancer patients’ motivation for treatment adherence and daily self-care, in addition to educating them about cancer and treatment.
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