Phobot

Phobot is a robot that exhibits behaviour that mimics fear and overcoming it by graded exposure. The robot was voted the public's favourite at a conference on human–robot interaction in Amsterdam. It was designed by a team of students at the University of Amsterdam, and constructed from Lego.^[1] It was designed to help children deal with phobias and anxieties.

When Phobot sees a larger robot, it retreats, and spins around, making high pitched noises, seemingly in panic.^[1] When it is gradually exposed to smaller robots, and is coached by holding its hands and talking to it in a soothing manner, it learns to overcome its fear.^[2] This approach mimics the process of systematic desensitization, or graded exposure treatment, common in the treatment of phobias.

Phobot was built for a competition at the international conference on human-robot interaction 2008 from a Lego Mindstorms robot kit, and its behaviour implemented in the Mindstorms software.^[1] It uses RFID, sound and touch sensors to interact with humans.^[3] It was designed as a low cost proof of concept for an affective robot, coaching children to deal with phobias and anxieties.^[2]

• Phobot homepage
• Human-robot interaction conference 2008