Abstract
The field of assistive and social robotics is increasingly being applied within pediatric medicine, where waiting rooms provide an interesting setting for conducting ecological behavioral observations. Yet, there is a dearth of studies investigating teleoperated humanoid robots in their capacity as tools for naturalistic observation in an unstructured environment, a use that requires a very high level of user-friendliness of the robot for non-specialist users. In this study, the humanoid robot Alter-Ego was evaluated as a telepresence avatar to support remote observation in the waiting room of a child neuropsychiatry clinic. As a preliminary step toward future clinical evaluation, the study was conducted without the direct involvement of pediatric patients and focused on the usability, perceived cognitive workload, and acceptability of the platform among 13 professionals with clinical and technical backgrounds. The results demonstrated acceptable system usability, with an overall mean System Usability Scale score of 71.3. Regarding cognitive workload, the NASA-TLX identified Mental Demand and Effort as the most demanding dimensions, while Frustration levels remained low. The Godspeed Questionnaire revealed a highly positive perception of the platform’s Animacy and Likeability, alongside good scores for Perceived Safety and Perceived Intelligence. In exploratory correlation analyses, no significant correlations were found between prior virtual reality (VR) or gaming experience and any of the outcome measures considered. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the Alter-Ego platform may be a usable and acceptable teleoperated tool for clinical and technical professionals, providing a basis for future evaluation in pediatric clinical settings.