1,566 research outputs found

    A Novel Reinforcement-Based Paradigm for Children to Teach the Humanoid Kaspar Robot

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    © The Author(s) 2019. This is the final published version of an article published in Psychological Research, licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-bution 4.0 International License. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00607-xThis paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research with the aim of supporting the development of social and collaborative skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We present a novel experiment where the classical roles are reversed: in this scenario the children are the teachers providing positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot in order for the robot to learn arbitrary associations between different toy names and the locations where they are positioned. The objective of this work is to develop games which help children with ASD develop collaborative skills and also provide them tangible example to understand that sometimes learning requires several repetitions. To facilitate this game we developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its level of uncertainty during the learning process, so as to better inform the children interacting with Kaspar the reasons behind the successes and failures made by the robot. Overall, 30 Typically Developing (TD) children aged between 7 and 8 (19 girls, 11 boys) and 6 children with ASD performed 22 sessions (16 for TD; 6 for ASD) of the experiment in groups, and managed to teach Kaspar all associations in 2 to 7 trials. During the course of study Kaspar only made rare unexpected associations (2 perseverative errors and 1 win-shift, within a total of 272 trials), primarily due to exploratory choices, and eventually reached minimal uncertainty. Thus the robot's behavior was clear and consistent for the children, who all expressed enthusiasm in the experiment.Peer reviewe

    Applications of Robotics for Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Scoping Review

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    Robotic therapies are receiving growing interest in the autism field, especially for the improvement of social skills of children, enhancing traditional human interventions. In this work, we conduct a scoping review of the literature in robotics for autism, providing the largest review on this field from the last five years. Our work underlines the need to better characterize participants and to increase the sample size. It is also important to develop homogeneous training protocols to analyse and compare the results. Nevertheless, 7 out of the 10 Randomized control trials reported a significant impact of robotic therapy. Overall, robot autonomy, adaptability and personalization as well as more standardized outcome measures were pointed as the most critical issues to address in future research

    Socially Assistive Robot Enabled Home-Based Care for Supporting People with Autism

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    The growing number of people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an issue of concern in Australia and many countries. In order to improve the engagement, reciprocity, productivity and usefulness of people with ASD in a home-based environment, in this paper the authors report on a 9 month Australian home-based care trial of socially assistive robot (Lucy) to support two young adults with autism. This work demonstrates that by marrying personhood (of people with ASD) with human-like communication modalities of Lucy potentially positive outcomes can be achieved in terms of engagement, productivity and usefulness as well as reciprocity of the people with ASD. Lucy also provide respite to their carers (e.g., parents) in their day to day living

    A Spectrum of Tech: An Integrated Literature Review of Technologies to Target Social Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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    Students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have limited social or communication skills and, thus, need extra assistance in learning when and how to engage in appropriate interactions with those around them. However, because there are several different individual skills (e.g., joint attention, emotional expression, etc.) that fall under the categories of social and communication skills, and there are even more options of devices and programs to choose from within assistive technology (AT) and instructional technology (IT), it may seem daunting to find the right technology to meet a specific child’s needs and to determine whether that technology procedures lasting results. The purpose of this integrated literature review was to investigate whether devices used for social skills intervention in PreK-12 students with ASD function as either AT or IT, with the secondary goal of determining which technologies promote better maintenance and generalization than others in social skills interventions in PreK-12 students with ASD. Analysis of published research studies on Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Games, Video Modeling, Social Robots, and Wearable Assistive Technologies demonstrate that many of these technologies function as either AT or IT, depending on the context of the situation. Furthermore, it was found that certain devices, specifically Video Modeling and Social Robots, promote better maintenance and generalization

    Social Robots to enhance therapy and interaction for children: From the design to the implementation "in the wild"

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    En les últimes dues dècades els robots socials s'han convertit en un camp emergent en el qual encara hi ha molt per fer. Aquest camp requereix coneixements en mecànica, control, intel·ligència artificial, sistemes, etc., però també en psicologia, disseny, ètica, etc. El nostre grup de recerca de perfil interdisciplinari ha estat treballant en el disseny de robots socials en diferents aplicacions per a nens amb necessitats especials. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és investigar diferents escenaris en teràpia o educació on els robots socials podrien ser una eina útil per als nens. Es van realitzar 4 estudis amb diferents propòsits: (1) dissenyar activitats amb robòtica de LEGO per avaluar el comportament social dels nens amb trastorn de l'espectre autista (TEA) (entre companys i amb adults) i analitzar la seva efectivitat, (2) dissenyar un robot social per recuperar les funcionalitats més afectades a causa de traumatismes cranioencefàlics (TCE) en nens i veure l'eficàcia del tractament, (3) proporcionar un robot mascota per alleujar els sentiments d'ansietat, solitud i estrès en nens hospitalitzats, i (4) comprovar com un robot amb comportament social i amb una personalització versus robots sense aquestes característiques mostra diferències en termes d'interacció amb nens i, per tant, pot ajudar en l'efectivitat de diferents tractaments com hem esmentat anteriorment. Els resultats van revelar diferents resultats depenent de l'aplicació: (1) efectivitat amb la plataforma robòtica social que vam dissenyar en el tractament neuropsicològic per a aquells nens afectats per TCE, (2) eficàcia amb les activitats de robòtica de LEGO dissenyades per un grup de terapeutes en termes de millora d'habilitats socials (3) un efecte positiu entre els mediadors i facilitadors de la interacció i les relacions entre els diferents agents involucrats en el procés de la cura: pacients hospitalitzats, familiars, voluntaris i personal clínic, i (4) una interacció diferent, en termes de temps, entre els dos grups durant període de dues setmanes.En las últimas dos décadas los robots sociales se han convertido en un campo emergente en el que todavía hay mucho por hacer. Este campo requiere conocimientos en mecánica, control, inteligencia artificial, sistemas, etc., pero también en psicología, diseño, ética, etc. Nuestro grupo de investigación de perfil interdisciplinar ha estado trabajando en el diseño de robots sociales en diferentes aplicaciones para niños con necesidades especiales. El objetivo de esta tesis es investigar diferentes escenarios en terapia o educación donde los robots sociales podrían ser una herramienta útil para los niños. Se realizaron 4 estudios con diferentes propósitos: (1) diseñar actividades con robótica de LEGO para evaluar el comportamiento social de los niños con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) (entre compañeros y con adultos) y analizar su efectividad, (2) diseñar un robot social para recuperar las funcionalidades más afectadas a causa de traumatismos craneoencefálicos (TCE) en niños y ver la eficacia del tratamiento, (3) proporcionar un robot mascota para aliviar los sentimientos de ansiedad, soledad y estrés en niños hospitalizados, y (4) comprobar como un robot con comportamiento social y con una personalización versus robots sin esas características muestra diferencias en términos de interacción con niños y, por tanto, puede ayudar en la efectividad de diferentes tratamientos como mencionamos anteriormente. Los resultados revelaron diferentes resultados dependiendo de la aplicación: (1) efectividad con la plataforma robótica social que diseñamos en el tratamiento neuropsicológico para aquellos niños afectadas por TCE, (2) eficacia con las actividades de robótica de LEGO diseñadas por un grupo de terapeutas en términos de mejora de habilidades sociales (3) un efecto positivo entre los mediadores y facilitadores de la interacción y las relaciones entre los diferentes agentes involucrados en el proceso del cuidado: pacientes hospitalizados, familiares, voluntarios y personal clínico, y (4) una interacción diferente, en términos de tiempo, entre ambos grupos en el promedio de un período de dos semanas.Over the past two decades social robots have become an emerging field where there are many things still to work on. This field not only requires knowledge in mechanics, control, artificial intelligence, systems, etc., but also in psychology, design, ethics, etc. Our multidisciplinary research group has been working on designing social robotic platforms in different applications for children with special needs. The aim of this thesis is to investigate different scenarios in therapy or education where social robots could be a useful tool for children. We ran 4 studies with different purposes: (1) to design activities with LEGO robotics to assess children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) social behaviour (between peers and with adults) and to analyze the effectiveness, (2) to design a social robotic platform to recover the functionalities most affected by traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in children and see the effectiveness of the treatment, (3) to provide a pet robot to alleviate feelings of anxiety, loneliness and stress of long-term children inpatient and their bystanders, and (4) to verify how a robot with social behaviour and personalization verses those robots without, shows differences in terms of interaction with children and thus, helps the effectiveness of different treatments as we mention above. The results revealed different outcomes depending on the application: (1) effectiveness with the social robotic platform that we designed in neuropsychological treatment in those areas affected by TBI, (2) effectiveness with the LEGO robotics activities designed by a group of therapists in terms of improvement of the social skills and engagement, (3) a positive effect within mediators and facilitators of interaction and relationships between the different agents involved in the caring process: in-patients, relatives, volunteers and clinical staff (4) slight evidence towards a different interaction, in terms of time, between both groups in the average of a two-week period

    Social Robots in Hospitals: A Systematic Review

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    Hospital environments are facing new challenges this century. One of the most important is the quality of services to patients. Social robots are gaining prominence due to the advantages they offer; in particular, several of their main uses have proven beneficial during the pandemic. This study aims to shed light on the current status of the design of social robots and their interaction with patients. To this end, a systematic review was conducted using WoS and MEDLINE, and the results were exhaustive analyzed. The authors found that most of the initiatives and projects serve the el- derly and children, and specifically, that they helped these groups fight diseases such as dementia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cancer, and diabetes

    Intelligent Dolls and robots for the treatment of elderly people with dementia

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    Doll and robot are effective and beneficial non-pharmacological therapies applied in different clinical settings. Doll therapy (DT), principally based in Bowlby's attachment theory, uses an empathy or lifelike baby doll to conduct caring behaviors of it. Robot therapies (RT) use care robots with a friendly attitude and appearance that create emotions and movements that lead to different verbal, motor and emotional reactions. Both DT and RT are person-centred therapies that aim to improve wellbeing of people that suffer from different neurological, psychological and mental health disorders, such as Alzheimer's Disease, autism spectrum disorder, stress or depression, by providing a realistic experience. In this paper, the characteristics of both therapies, their benefits and the possibilities of innovation in the therapeutic field are presented
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