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.

[1]  Chrystopher L. Nehaniv,et al.  Drum-mate: interaction dynamics and gestures in human–humanoid drumming experiments , 2010, Connect. Sci..

[2]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Collaborating with Kaspar: Using an autonomous humanoid robot to foster cooperative dyadic play among children with autism , 2010, 2010 10th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots.

[3]  Takanori Shibata,et al.  Living With Seal Robots—Its Sociopsychological and Physiological Influences on the Elderly at a Care House , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[4]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Embodiment and Cognitive Learning - Can a Humanoid Robot Help Children with Autism to Learn about Tactile Social Behaviour? , 2012, ICSR.

[5]  Chrystopher L. Nehaniv,et al.  Title of paper : KASPAR – A Minimally Expressive Humanoid Robot for Human-Robot Interaction Research , 2009 .

[6]  Alexander Libin,et al.  Person-robot interactions from the robopsychologists' point of view: the robotic psychology and robotherapy approach , 2004, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[7]  J. F. Kelley,et al.  An iterative design methodology for user-friendly natural language office information applications , 1984, TOIS.

[8]  A. Pease,et al.  The Definitive Book of Body Language , 2004 .

[9]  Chrystopher L. Nehaniv,et al.  Effects of Embodiment and Gestures on Social Interaction in Drumming Games with a Humanoid Robot , 2009, Adv. Robotics.

[10]  P. Anderson.  Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin , 1978 .

[11]  Takanori Shibata,et al.  Robot therapy in a care house - its sociopsychological and physiological effects on the residents , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[12]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Tactile Interactions with a Humanoid Robot: Novel Play Scenario Implementations with Children with Autism , 2014, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[13]  E. Schopler,et al.  The Teacch Approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2004, Springer US.

[14]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Developing scenarios for robot assisted play , 2008, RO-MAN 2008 - The 17th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[15]  Austen Rainer,et al.  Robot-Mediated Interviews - How Effective Is a Humanoid Robot as a Tool for Interviewing Young Children? , 2013, PloS one.

[16]  Edward Z. Tronick,et al.  The Efe forager infant and toddler's pattern of social relationships: Multiple and simultaneous. , 1992 .

[17]  B. Robins,et al.  Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism : A case study in robot-human interaction , 2004 .

[18]  Chrystopher L. Nehaniv,et al.  Sustaining interaction dynamics and engagement in dyadic child-robot interaction kinesics: lessons learnt from an exploratory study , 2005, ROMAN 2005. IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2005..

[19]  M. Knapp,et al.  Nonverbal communication in human interaction , 1972 .

[20]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  From Isolation to Communication: A Case Study Evaluation of Robot Assisted Play for Children with Autism with a Minimally Expressive Humanoid Robot , 2009, 2009 Second International Conferences on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions.

[21]  Aude Billard,et al.  A survey of Tactile Human-Robot Interactions , 2010, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[22]  Cynthia Breazeal,et al.  Design of a therapeutic robotic companion for relational, affective touch , 2005, ROMAN 2005. IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2005..

[23]  Amanda L. Woodward,et al.  Infants' Understanding of the Actions Involved in Joint Attention , 2005 .

[24]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  ”Where is Your Nose?” - Developing Body Awareness Skills Among Children With Autism Using a Humanoid Robot , 2013, ACHI 2013.

[25]  Robin R. Murphy,et al.  Human-Robot Interaction , 2012 .

[26]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Tactile interaction with a humanoid robot for children with autism: A case study analysis involving user requirements and results of an initial implementation , 2010, 19th International Symposium in Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[27]  Philip Smith.  Roger Bakeman John M. Gottman , 1987, Animal Behaviour.

[28]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Developing Play Scenarios for Tactile Interaction with a Humanoid Robot: A Case Study Exploration with Children with Autism , 2010, ICSR.

[29]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Investigating Child-Robot Tactile Interactions: A Taxonomical Classification of Tactile Behaviour of Children with Autism Towards a Humanoid Robot. , 2013, ACHI 2013.

[30]  T. Shibata,et al.  Engaging with artificial pets , 2005 .