A humanoid robot used as an assistive intervention tool for children with autism spectrum disorder: A preliminary research

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder affecting 60 out of 10,000 individuals. Children with autism are often characterized by repetitive behaviors and by deficits in social skills and communicative abilities. They are usually not willing to communicate with other people. However, researches indicate that most of them are willing to approach and interact with robots or robot-like characteristics. In this paper, we proposed two robotic-assisted intervention models aimed at helping children with ASD to improve their social experiences and establishing relationship quickly between an autistic child and an adult such as a therapist. A preliminary research on testing the responses and interests of three Chinese children with autism toward a humanoid robot is also presented. The result showed different interests of the children toward the robot and proved that the selection phase in our models will be useful. © Springer International Publishing 2013.