There is an increasing interest in eHealth solutions to support the transition between the clinical environment and home in the context of stroke rehabilitation. However, they face challenges in sustaining motivation for therapy adherence due to their lack of meaningful connection with the patient. We proposed advanced embodied agents as a new form of eHealth solution capable of building a supportive partnership and leveraging the patient’s need for social-relatedness
Our RtD iterative exploration resulted in ‘EDO the Coach’. Through its embodiment and expressivity, EDO conveys availability, provides guidance, and fosters daily support. EDO transforms the daily experience of the patients by mediating the role of the therapist without necessarily having an anthropomorphic resemblance or turning into an impersonal medical tool.
EDO the Coach is a research prototype developed within the ArmCoach4Stroke (AC4S) project (a collaboration between Delft University of Technology (Delft, NL), Erasmus Medical Centre (Rotterdam, NL), Rijndam Rehabilitation Centre (Rotterdam, NL), University of Twente (Enschede, NL), Amsterdam UMC (Amsterdam, NL), 2M Engineering (Valkenswaard, NL) and Umaco (Groningen, NL)). The project’s aim is to understand how embodied agents can be designed to establish motivating relationships with people. EDO was tested at home by 10 patients in treatment for a week. Rich insights were collected on the patients’ perspectives about the relationship they established with EDO and the potential of EDO’s character and behaviour in strengthening such relationships in the long term.
