Virtual Companions against Loneliness in the Hospital

Room:

LK 052

Date:

Dienstag, 12-14 Uhr

Type:

Lab Course (Praxisprojekt)

Description

Kick-Off Date: 12.10.21, 12:15 LK 052

(Students of applied computer science can join the Kick-Off event after their registration via mail)


Since an extended stay in the hospital can be lonely and scary for children, it is essential to find solutions to help children in such a situation. Hence, virtual companions can help. Virtual companions can satisfy the need for relatedness (Ryan et al., 2006), can improve the feeling of loneliness in a virtual environment (Liszio et al., 2017). Furthermore, if the users identify with the companion, they could adapt their emotional experience and behavior (Emmerich et al., 2018). Hence, the idea is if a cheering companion could induce positive emotions in hospitalized children and improve their well-being.

This lab course aims to focus on all these positive aspects companions provide. Therefore, the lab course should create a cluster of existing companions in virtual worlds. What kind of companions already exists? Are they need to be human-like, or do animal companions cause a similar effect? Based on this cluster, the lab course’s task will be to develop their own companion and evaluate it in a small user testing.

Target Audience

BA Komedia; BAI