Specialists in human-robot interaction from the University of Glasgow are exploring the potential of AI-powered interactive robots in helping refugees and asylum seekers access information and support in their native languages.

Working in collaboration with linguists and the Central & West Integration Network (CWIN), a Glasgow-based charity which offers support to migrants, the project has developed a prototype robot modelled to look like a human head which can listen to questions and provide spoken answers.

The system, believed to be the first of its kind to be co-designed in partnership with refugees and asylum seekers, aims to remove the barriers preventing displaced people from easily accessing the support and services they are entitled to use.

Led by Shaul Ashkenazi, a PhD student at the Glasgow’s UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Socially Intelligent Artificial Agents, the prototype robotic head, created by Furhat Robotics, is capable of interacting in both Modern Standard Arabic and English, and in future could provide access to a custom-built database of local services like food banks, libraries and healthcare providers in its responses.

“Scotland hosts about 16% of the UK’s population of Syrian refugees who arrived here under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, with around 650 currently awaiting asylum decisions,” said Ashkenazi.

“They can face a wide range of challenges on their journey to becoming ‘New Scots’, from language barriers to an incomplete understanding of the support they can access.”

The development of the prototype was guided by a collaboration with nine Syrian refugees and asylum seekers who took part in discussions about their experiences of living in Scotland and the challenges they have faced so far.

The study participants highlighted a series of shared issues, including access to housing, language barriers, and challenges in understanding and navigating the various support systems available to them.

Then, the team introduced the participants to the Furhat robot and demonstrated its capabilities by showing it answering questions about tax exemptions in Arabic and English.

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They felt that a system which could help them access services in their own language could be helpful in the future, and that speaking to a robot rather than a person could help overcome the embarrassment that can arise from discussing personal problems.

“This study shows that there is a willingness to engage with a social robot and that there is potentially real value in expanding the prototype we’ve created,” added Ashkenazi. 

“We’ll continue to work with CWIN to test the prototype as it develops in response to continued collaboration with the people we want it to help. Our hope is that social robots like these will be useful sources of support in the years to come.”