Tactile Interactions with a Humanoid Robot : Novel Play Scenario Implementations with Children with Autism

Acknowledgments: This work has been partially supported by the European Commission under contract number FP7-231500-ROBOSKIN. Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.The work presented in this paper was part of our investigation in the ROBOSKIN project. The project has developed new robot capabilities based on the tactile feedback provided by novel robotic skin, with the aim to provide cognitive mechanisms to improve human-robot interaction capabilities. This article presents two novel tactile play scenarios developed for robot-assisted play for children with autism. The play scenarios were developed against specific educational and therapeutic objectives that were discussed with teachers and therapists. These objectives were classified with reference to the ICF-CY, the International Classification of Functioning – version for Children and Youth. The article presents a detailed description of the play scenarios, and case study examples of their implementation in HRI studies with children with autism and the humanoid robot KASPAR.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Bridging the Research Gap: Making HRI Useful to Individuals with Autism

While there is a rich history of studies involving robots and individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), few of these studies have made substantial impact in the clinical research community. In this paper we first examine how differences in approach, study design, evaluation, and publication practices have hindered uptake of these research results. Based on ten years of collaboration, we suggest a set of design principles that satisfy the needs (both academic and cultural) of both the robotics and clinical autism research communities. Using these principles, we present a study that demonstrates a quantitatively measured improvement in human-human social interaction for children with ASD, effected by interaction with a robot

Prepoznavanje in izražanje čustev: težave otrok z motnjo avtističnega spektra pri učenju tujega jezika in kako jih rešiti

Recognising emotions, facial expressions and tone of voice and body language, expressing and managing their own emotions, and understanding and responding to other people\u27s emotions are often difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder. Since the emotional codes of individuals with autism spectrum disorder are different, those people will possibly be awkward in expressing some throughout their lives. Although it might seem that children with autism spectrum disorder do not respond emotionally, the ability to understand their facial expressions could lead to an improvement in their social interaction difficulties. In addition, since autistic expressions might be unique to each child, recognising their emotions is important when delivering a personalised intervention to a child with autism spectrum disorder. In recent decades, researchers have become increasingly interested in the role of emotions in learning and teaching a foreign language beyond heavily investigated topics such as foreign language anxiety and motivation and attitudes towards the foreign language. In this paper, how emotions impact the motivation and success of children with autism spectrum disorder while they are learning a foreign language is presented. Challenges, opportunities and future research directions in this domain are given. (DIPF/Orig.

User-driven design of robot costume for child-robot interactions among children with cognitive impairment

The involvement of arts and psychology elements in robotics research for children with cognitive impairment is still limited. However, the combination of robots, arts, psychology and education in the development of robots could significantly contribute to the improvement of social interaction skills among children with cognitive impairment. In this article, we would like to share our work on building and innovating the costume of LUCA's robot, which incorporating the positive psychological perspectives and arts values for children with cognitive impairment. Our goals are (1) to educate arts students in secondary arts school on the importance of social robot appearance for children with cognitive impairment, and (2) to select the best costume for future child-robot interaction study with children with cognitive impairments

Feasibility study of a randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of using a humanoid robot to improve the social skills of children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (Kaspar RCT): A Study Protocol

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http:// creativecommons. org/licenses/ by/ 4.0/Introduction: Interventions using robot-assisted therapy may be beneficial for the social skills development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are lacking. The present research aims to assess the feasibility of conducting a RCT evaluating the effectiveness of a social skills intervention using the robot ‘Kaspar’ with children with ASD. Methods and analysis: Forty children will be recruited. Inclusion criteria are: aged 5-10 years, confirmed ASD diagnosis, IQ over 70, English language comprehension, a carer who can complete questionnaires in English, and no current participation in a private social communication intervention. Children will be randomised to receive an intervention with a therapist and Kaspar, or with the therapist only. They will receive two familiarisation sessions and six treatment sessions over eight weeks. They will be assessed at baseline, and at 10-weeks and 22-weeks after baseline. The primary outcome of this study is to evaluate whether the pre-determined feasibility criteria for a full-scale trial are met. The potential primary outcome measures for a full-scale trial are the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). We will conduct a preliminary economic analysis. After the study has ended, a sample of twenty participants and their families will be invited to participate in semi-structured interviews to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the study’s methods and intervention. Ethics and dissemination: Parents/carers will provide informed consent, and children will give assent, where appropriate. Care will be taken to avoid pressure or coercion to participate. Aftercare is available from the recruiting NHS Trust and a phased withdrawal protocol will be followed if children become excessively attached to the robot. The results of the study will be disseminated to academic audiences and non-academic stakeholders, e.g. families of children with ASD, support groups, clinicians and charities. Registration details: ISRCTN14156001.Peer reviewe

Adolescence, autism and technology: how technology can impact the social lives and wellbeing of adolescents with an autism diagnosis

Section A Section A is a narrative review of social skills interventions that have been used to enhance the social skills of adolescents with a diagnosis of autism. The review examined the types of interventions used as well as their efficacy, acceptability and generalisability. Exploration of the research revealed some limited evidence supporting the use of technology-delivered social skills interventions. Interventions offered little benefit over in-person interventions and limited generalisability. However, such interventions were positively received by young people which may improve intervention adherence. Clinical and research implications are provided. Section B Section B is a mixed-methods study examining the social media experiences of 222 adolescents with and without autistic traits. Participants’ views on the advantages and disadvantages of using social media and its impact on their social life were collected. A number of hypotheses concerning social media’s impact on social capital and wellbeing were tested, including the moderating role of autistic traits. Results show that social media use can have a positive impact on adolescents’ social lives and improve online social capital. Its impact on wellbeing appeared to vary depending on autistic traits. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for clinical practice. Limitations are considered and implications for future research are provided

Social robots to support practitioners in the education and clinical care of children: The CARER-AID project

The Controlled Autonomous Robot for Early detection and Rehabilitation of Autism and Intellectual Disability (CARER-AID) project aimed at verifying the effects of the introduction of a humanoid robot in the clinical routine as a supervised autonomous assistant to support clinical staff in the care of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) associated with Intellectual Disability (ID). The CARER-AID project was undertaken by a multidisciplinary team composed of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics and clinical psychologists experienced in the treatment of ID. The literature shows that children with ASD seem to prefer robotic devices over non-robotic instruments and indeed humans. Starting from this, CARER-AID clinical studies provided experimental evidence that demonstrated several potential benefits of robot-assisted therapy when treating children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ASD with or without ID. Alongside the study in a clinical setting, the project also investigated the acceptability and the attitudes towards social robotics in an educational context. The study evaluated the teachers' perception of introducing a humanoid robot in a kindergarten and the attitudes of children with Typical Development (TD) towards. The results of the clinical and educational studies showed the usefulness of social robotics in supporting practitioners in their interventions with both TD and neurodevelopmental disorders. The CARER-AID project offers a unitary vision of a robot that can serve in different aspects and levels of the care, from the education to the therapeutic rehabilitation, from assessment to monitoring of results, providing assistance to caregivers and professionals at school and in clinical settings

Impacts of using a social robot to teach music to children with low-functioning autism

This article endeavors to present the impact of conducting robot-assisted music-based intervention sessions for children with low-functioning (LF) autism. To this end, a drum/xylophone playing robot is used to teach basic concepts of how to play the instruments to four participants with LF autism during nine educational sessions. The main findings of this study are compared to similar studies conducted with children with high-functioning autism. Our main findings indicated that the stereotyped behaviors of all the subjects decreased during the course of the program with an approximate large Cohen’s d effect size. Moreover, the children showed some improvement in imitation, joint attention, and social skills from the Pre-Test to Post-Test. In addition, regarding music education, we indicated that while the children could not pass a test on the music notes or reading music phrases items because of their cognitive deficits, they showed acceptable improvements (with a large Cohen’s d effect size) in the Stambak Rhythm Reproduction Test, which means that some rhythm learning occurred for the LF participants. In addition, we indicated that parenting stress levels decreased during the program. This study presents some potential possibilities of performing robot-assisted interventions for children with LF autism