Socially Assistive Robots are studied in different Child-Robot Interaction settings. However, logistical constraints limit accessibility, particularly affecting timely support for mental wellbeing. In this work, we have investigated whether online interactions with a robot can be used for the assessment of mental wellbeing in children. The children (N=40, 20 girls and 20 boys; 8-13 years) interacted with the Nao robot (30-45 mins) over three sessions, at least a week apart. Audio-visual recordings were collected throughout the sessions that concluded with the children answering user perception questionnaires pertaining to their anxiety towards the robot, and the robot's abilities. We divided the participants into three wellbeing clusters (low, med and high tertiles) using their responses to the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) and further analysed how their wellbeing and their perceptions of the robot changed over the wellbeing tertiles, across sessions and across participants' gender. Our primary findings suggest that (I) online mediated-interactions with robots can be effective in assessing children's mental wellbeing over time, and (II) children's overall perception of the robot either improved or remained consistent across time. Supplementary exploratory analyses have also revealed that gender affected the children's wellbeing assessments as well as their perceptions of the robot.

翻译：社交辅助机器人已在多种儿童-机器人交互场景中得到研究。然而，后勤限制降低了其可及性，尤其影响了对心理福祉的及时支持。本研究探究了线上机器人互动能否用于评估儿童心理福祉。儿童参与者（N=40，20名女孩20名男孩；8-13岁）在至少间隔一周的三次实验中与Nao机器人互动（30-45分钟）。全程收集音视频记录，每次实验结束时儿童填写用户感知问卷，评估其对机器人的焦虑程度及机器人能力。我们根据儿童对《简短情绪与感受问卷》（SMFQ）的回答，将其分为三个福祉集群（低、中、高三分位数组），并进一步分析其福祉水平与对机器人感知如何随福祉三分位数、实验轮次及性别变化。主要发现表明：（Ⅰ）线上中介的机器人互动可有效长期评估儿童心理福祉；（Ⅱ）儿童对机器人的整体感知随时间推移或改善或保持稳定。补充探索性分析还揭示，性别影响儿童福祉评估及对机器人的感知。