1,393 research outputs found
Acceptability of the transitional wearable companion “+me” in typical children: a pilot study
This work presents the results of the first experimentation of +me-the first prototype of
Transitional Wearable Companion–run on 15 typically developed (TD) children with ages
between 8 and 34 months. +me is an interactive device that looks like a teddy bear that
can be worn around the neck, has touch sensors, can emit appealing lights and sounds,
and has input-output contingencies that can be regulated with a tablet via Bluetooth.
The participants were engaged in social play activities involving both the device and
an adult experimenter. +me was designed with the objective of exploiting its intrinsic
allure as an attractive toy to stimulate social interactions (e.g., eye contact, turn taking,
imitation, social smiles), an aspect potentially helpful in the therapy of Autism Spectrum
Disorders (ASD) and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). The main purpose
of this preliminary study is to evaluate the general acceptability of the toy by TD children,
observing the elicited behaviors in preparation for future experiments involving children
with ASD and other PDD. First observations, based on video recording and scoring,
show that +me stimulates good social engagement in TD children, especially when their
age is higher than 24 months
Safety experiments for small robots investigating the potential of soft materials in mitigating the harm to the head due to impacts
There is a growing interest in social robots to be considered in the therapy
of children with autism due to their effectiveness in improving the outcomes.
However, children on the spectrum exhibit challenging behaviors that need to be
considered when designing robots for them. A child could involuntarily throw a
small social robot during meltdown and that could hit another person's head and
cause harm (e.g. concussion). In this paper, the application of soft materials
is investigated for its potential in attenuating head's linear acceleration
upon impact. The thickness and storage modulus of three different soft
materials were considered as the control factors while the noise factor was the
impact velocity. The design of experiments was based on Taguchi method. A total
of 27 experiments were conducted on a developed dummy head setup that reports
the linear acceleration of the head. ANOVA tests were performed to analyze the
data. The findings showed that the control factors are not statistically
significant in attenuating the response. The optimal values of the control
factors were identified using the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio optimization
technique. Confirmation runs at the optimal parameters (i.e. thickness of 3 mm
and 5 mm) showed a better response as compared to other conditions. Designers
of social robots should consider the application of soft materials to their
designs as it help in reducing the potential harm to the head
Influence of the shape and mass of a small robot when thrown to a dummy human head
Social robots have shown some efficacy in assisting children with autism and are now being considered as assistive tools for therapy. The physical proximity of a small companion social robot could become a source of harm to children with autism during aggressive physical interactions. A child exhibiting challenging behaviors could throw a small robot that could harm another child 0 s head upon impact. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the mass and the shape of objects thrown on impact at different impact velocities on the linear acceleration of a developed dummy head. This dummy head could
be the head of another child or a caregiver in the room. A total of 27 main experiments were conducted based on Taguchi’s orthogonal array design. The data were then analyzed using ANOVA and signal-to-noise (S/N). Our results revealed that the two design factors considered (i.e. mass and shape) and the
noise factor (i.e. impact velocities) affected the resultant response. Finally, confirmation runs at the optimal identified shape and mass (i.e. mass of 0.3 kg and shape of either cube or wedge) showed an overall reduction in the resultant peak linear acceleration of the dummy head as compared to the other
conditions. These results have implications on the design and manufacturing of small social robots whereby minimizing the mass of the robots can aid in mitigating harm to the head due to impact
Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism
Social robots have gained a lot of attention recently as they have been reported to be effective in supporting therapeutic services for children with autism. However, children with autism may exhibit a multitude of challenging behaviors that could be harmful to themselves and to others around them. Furthermore, social robots are meant to be companions and to elicit certain social behaviors. Hence, the presence of a social robot during the occurrence of challenging behaviors might increase any potential harm. In this paper, we identified harmful scenarios that might emanate between a child and a social robot due to the manifestation of challenging behaviors. We then quantified the harm levels based on severity indices for one of the challenging behaviors (i.e. throwing of objects). Our results showed that the overall harm levels based on the selected severity indices are relatively low compared to their respective thresholds. However, our investigation of harm due to throwing of a small social robot to the head revealed that it could potentially cause tissue injuries, subconcussive or even concussive events in extreme cases. The existence of such behaviors must be accounted for and considered when developing interactive social robots to be deployed for children with autism.The work is supported by a research grant from Qatar University under the grant No. QUST-1-CENG-2018-7Scopu
Affordable Compact Humanoid Robot for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism is a disorder that primarily affects the development of social and communication skills. Interacting with simple humanoid robots has been shown to improve the communication skills of autistic children. Currently, no robots capable of meeting these requirements are both low-cost and available for in-home use. This project produced a design and prototype of a humanoid robot that is non-threatening, affordable, portable, durable, and capable of interaction, and the electronic and control software were developed. This robot has the ability to track the child with its 3-DoF eyes and 3-DoF head, open and close its 1-DoF beak and 1-DoF each eyelids, and raise its 1-DoF each wings. These attributes will give it the ability to be used for therapy and assessment of children with autism
Healthcare Robotics
Robots have the potential to be a game changer in healthcare: improving
health and well-being, filling care gaps, supporting care givers, and aiding
health care workers. However, before robots are able to be widely deployed, it
is crucial that both the research and industrial communities work together to
establish a strong evidence-base for healthcare robotics, and surmount likely
adoption barriers. This article presents a broad contextualization of robots in
healthcare by identifying key stakeholders, care settings, and tasks; reviewing
recent advances in healthcare robotics; and outlining major challenges and
opportunities to their adoption.Comment: 8 pages, Communications of the ACM, 201
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