Communications of the ACM
Humanoid Robot Helps Train Children With Autism
Engineer Nilanjan Sarkar and psychologist Julie Crittendon pose with the robot NAO.
Credit: Joe Howell/Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt University researchers have developed NAO, a system of sensors, computers, and robots designed to help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The researchers used the system to demonstrate that robotic systems may be worthwhile tools for enhancing the basic social learning skills of children with ASD.
During testing, the researchers found that children with ASD paid more attention to the robot and followed its instructions almost as well as they did those of a human therapist in standard exercises used to develop joint attention skill.
"This is the first real-world test of whether intelligent adaptive systems can make an impact on autism," says Vanderbilt professor Zachary Warren.
NAO has been programmed with a series of verbal prompts and gestures that imitate those used by human therapists in joint attention training.
The researchers tested the relative effectiveness of the robot-based system and human therapists in joint attention training with a dozen children, six with ASD and a control group of six typically developing children. The researchers found that children in both groups spent more time looking at the robot than they spent looking at the human therapist.
One of the system's key elements is how it automatically adapts its behavior to each child, depending on their responses.
From Research News @ Vanderbuilt
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