Thomas Gargot

Nao going to the hospital.
Nao going to the Hospital

Home Lab:
Informatics Llaboratory / La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique

Home University:
Paris Sorbone / Paris Lumiere, France

Visiting Lab:
Computer-Human Interaction Lab for Learning & Instruction (CHILI) with Prof. Pierre Dillenbourg

Visiting University:
EPFL, Switzerland

Year of visit:
3 months in 2019

Project:
Algorithms and robotic to detect and treat writing learning difficulties in neurodevelopmental disorders

“Great experience, NCCR communication was very nice and made everything to make this exchange possible”
– Thomas

1. Were you able to fulfill all your planned objectives?

No. We developped social behaviours for the cowriter robot. We were able to test the prototype in CHUV Hospital in Lausaune (see the photo of the Nao taking the car to go to the CHUV). Since then, the project was funded by a French-Swiss funding ANR-SNSF: the hardware used by cowriter will be improved (ipad and QtRobot) enabling an easier data collection in France and Switzerland in schools and in the hospital.

2. Did this experience inspire/enable you to continue your career?

Yes. We did a publication with EPFL post doc (Dr Barbara Bruno and Dr Wafa Johal) concerning the social behaviours of the robot: “How social robot behaviours could support child-robot long term interaction during writing remediation”, very nice work experience and interdisciplinary work. Nice discoveries of research topics, device (Cellulo) or even lectures in EPFL (“Algorithms to live by”). This exchange enable me to defend a European Computer Science Phd.

3. Did your host lab contribute to the quality of your research?

Yes. The project is a combined French-Swiss project.

4. Do you feel your association with NCCR Robotics has had an overall impact on your studies and future career?

Yes.

5. What are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future?

I am finishing the redaction a clinical case that we run in la Pitié with the cowriter “It is not the robot who learns, it is me” Treating severe dysgraphia using Child-Robot Interaction and gaming.