Using a Humanoid Robot to Elicit Body Awareness and Appropriate Physical Interaction in Children with Autism

In this article we describe a human–robot interaction study, focusing on tactile aspects of interaction, in which children with autism interacted with the child-like humanoid robot KASPAR. KASPAR was equipped with touch sensors in order to be able to distinguish gentle from harsh touch, and to respond accordingly. The study investigated a novel scenario for robot-assisted play, with the goal to increase body awareness of children with autism spectrum condition (hereafter ASC) by teaching them how to identify human body parts, and to promote a triadic relationship between the child, the robot and the experimenter. Data obtained from the video analysis of the experimental sessions showed that children treated KASPAR as an object of shared attention with the experimenter, and performed more gentle touches on the robot along the sessions. The children also learned to identify body parts. The study showed the potential that teaching children with autism about body parts and appropriate physical interaction using a humanoid robot has, and highlighted the issues of scenario development, data collection and data analysis that will inform future studies.Peer reviewe

Transformed Pedagogical Environment: Humanoids for social skilling of mentally challenged children

The purpose of the paper is to describe the transformed pedagogical environment in Malaysia with regards to mentally challenged children. Through interviews with teachers and parents of children schooled at the special, integrative classes in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, the results indicated non-readiness for the teachers and the parents to embrace the assistive technology, the humanoids. Besides the high cost of purchasing the humanoid for each child to be placed at home, social skilling these special children requires human touch. Cultural, and religious aspects abound that negates the progress of pedagogy using humanoids.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Pedagogy; children; humanoids; social skil

AUTISM AND CREATIVITY: A SOCIAL ROBOTICS APPLICATION

This paper focuses on the relationship of genius with certain forms of autism. It synthesizes some results of two ongoing research activities. The first one concerns the investigation of creativity and the arts in the digital age, while the second an educational experience to support the socialization of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.The educational experience was based on storytelling, drama, and programmable toy robots.Our research emerged that low functioning autistic people may exhibit creative attitudes, but the creativity of educators has a crucial role in stimulating their creativity.

Developing child-robot interaction scenarios with a humanoid robot to assist children with autism in developing visual perspective taking skills

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a paper presented at the 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2017, Lisbon, Portugal. The final, published version is available at IEEE via https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2017.8172434Children with autism often find it difficult to understand that other people might have perspectives, viewpoints, beliefs and knowledge that are different from their own. One fundamental aspect of this difficulty is Visual Perspective Taking (VPT). Visual perspective taking is the ability to see the world from another person's perspective, taking into account what they see and how they see it, drawing upon both spatial and social information. In this paper, we outline the child-robot interaction scenarios that we have developed as part of the European BabyRobot project to assist children with autism explore elements that are important in developing VPT skills. Further to this we describe the standard pre and post assessments that we will perform with the children in order to measure their progress. The games were implemented with the Kaspar robot. To our knowledge this is the first attempt to improve the VPT skills of children with autism through playing and interacting with a humanoid robot

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

Effect of sensory-based technologies on atypical sensory responses of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

© 2021 ACM, Inc. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1145/3485768.3485782.Atypical sensory responses are one of the most common issues observed in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), affecting the development of a child's capability for social interaction, independent living and learning. In the past two decades, there has been a growing number of studies of technology-based interventions for atypical sensory responses of individuals with ASD. However, their effects and limitations have not been fully examined. This systematic review investigates the effects of sensory-based technologies (SBTs) on atypical sensory responses of children with ASD. Publications that report on the use of a SBT as an intervention tool were retrieved from four academic databases: “PubMed”, “IEEE Xplore”, “ACM Digital Library” and “Web of Science”. The search finally yielded 18 articles. The results indicated an emerging trend of studies investigating the effects of SBTs on atypical sensory responses over the past decade. Challenges and limitations were found in studies, mainly because the literatures adopted different methods and indicators, small sample sizes, and varying experimental designs. Findings were that the use of SBTs could effectively improve auditory and visual recognition, and some other behavioural outcomes such as attention in children with ASD. Future development of SBTs could further integrate more advanced techniques, such as machine learning, in order to widen the scope of SBTs usage to help more ASD children

Social skills, autism and technologies: An analysis of the effectiveness of this triad

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present needs in the social sphere that have repercussions on their development. It is essential that, at school, they are offered interventions that provide them with an answer to their needs and use appropriate tools. One of the resources that can be effective is the use of technologies, which possess a series of characteristics that favour their implementation in the population with ASD. For this reason, and with the aim of analysing the impact a technology-based social skills programme has on students with ASD, a mixed study based on case studies was proposed. Specifically, the sample consisted of four pupils with ASD. Data collection was carried out, on the one hand, by means of objective tests administered at three points in time, which measured the level of ability in identifying emotions and in emotion awareness. On the other hand, the behaviours were also observed systematically in all the sessions that made up the intervention. The results point to an improvement in the identification of emotions and emotion awareness. Likewise, a decrease in non-social behaviours such as inappropriate behaviours or stereotypies and an increase in social behaviours such as eye contact or joint attention were noted

How to Implement Robots in Interventions for Children with Autism? A Co-creation Study Involving People with Autism, Parents and Professionals

The aim of this study was to gain insight into how robots can be practically implemented into current education and therapy interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This qualitative study included focus groups and co-creation sessions. 73 Participants (professionals and adults with ASD) took part in 13 focus groups to elicit requirements for robot assisted interventions. Additionally, 22 participants (professionals, parents of children with ASD and adults with ASD) generated ideas for interventions using robot KASPAR in three co-creation sessions. This study resulted in: an overview of requirements concerning the robot, end-user, environment and practical implementation; a template to systematically describe robot interventions in general and for KASPAR in particular; and finally new interventions