%0 Conference Paper %B Proc. New Friends 2015 %D 2015 %T Let’s Be Friends: Perception of a Social Robotic Companion for children with T1DM %A Kruijff-Korbayová, Ivana %A Oleari, Elettra %A Pozzi, Clara %A Sacchitelli, Francesca %A Bagherzadhalimi, Anahita %A Bellini, Sara %A Kiefer, Bernd %A Racioppa, Stefania %A Coninx, Alexandre %A Paul E. Baxter %A Bierman, Bert %A Henkemans, Olivier Blanson %A Mark A. Neerincx %A Rosemarijn Looije %A Yiannis Demiris %A Espinoza, Raquel Ros %A Mosconi, Marco %A Cosi, Piero %A Remi Humbert %A Lola Cañamero %A Hichem Sahli %A Joachim de Greeff %A James Kennedy %A Robin Read %A Lewis, Matthew %A Antoine Hiolle %A Giulio Paci %A Sommavilla, Giacomo %A Tesser, Fabio %A Athanasopoulos, Georgios %A Patsis, Georgios %A Verhelst, Werner %A Alberto Sanna %A Tony Belpaeme %X We describe the social characteristics of a robot developed to support children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) in the process of education and care. We evaluated the perception of the robot at a summer camp where diabetic children aged 10-14 experienced the robot in group interactions. Children in the intervention condition additionally interacted with it also individually, in one-to-one sessions featuring several game-like activities. These children perceived the robot significantly more as a friend than those in the control group. They also readily engaged with it in dialogues about their habits related to healthy lifestyle as well as personal experiences concerning diabetes. This indicates that the one-on-one interactions added a special quality to the relationship of the children with the robot. %B Proc. New Friends 2015 %C Almere, The Netherlands %P 32–33 %8 10/2015 %G eng %U https://mheerink.home.xs4all.nl/pdf/ProceedingsNF2015-3.pdf