Towards the Applicability of NAO Robot for Children with Autism in Pakistan

In this paper, we present a HRI study that reports on the potential of NAO as a socially assistive robot in Pakistan. Our findings generated through interviewing 2 parents and 5 teachers on the plausibility of using NAO robot as an interaction partner show that both groups welcomed the use of NAO at schools. They, however, were sceptical due to missing NAO’s facial expressions and certain body parts such as nose and lips. They also emphasised the importance of creating natural text to speech interface for the Urdu Language. Our findings taken from 7 autistic children to measure their level of social interaction during HRI revealed that children positively engaged with the NAO robot and showed a significant number of both verbal and non-verbal behaviours.

[1]  Suleman Shahid,et al.  Design and Evaluation of Mobile Learning Applications for Autistic Children in Pakistan , 2015, INTERACT.

[2]  Luthffi Idzhar Ismail,et al.  Initial Response in HRI- a Case Study on Evaluation of Child with Autism Spectrum Disorders Interacting with a Humanoid Robot NAO , 2012 .

[3]  O. Hetzroni,et al.  Effects of a Computer-Based Intervention Program on the Communicative Functions of Children with Autism , 2004, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[4]  Omar Mubin,et al.  Understanding Behaviours and Roles for Social and Adaptive Robots In Education: Teacher's Perspective , 2016, HAI.

[5]  A. Tapus,et al.  Children with Autism Social Engagement in Interaction with Nao, an Imitative Robot - A Series of Single Case Experiments , 2012 .

[6]  Omar Mubin,et al.  Adaptive Social Robot for Sustaining Social Engagement during Long-Term Children–Robot Interaction , 2017, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[7]  Yasar Ayaz,et al.  Interactive Therapy Approach Through Collaborative Physical Play Between a Socially Assistive Humanoid Robot and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder , 2016, ICSR.

[8]  Svetha Venkatesh,et al.  TOBY: early intervention in autism through technology , 2013, CHI.

[9]  Uta Frith,et al.  Autism spectrum disorder , 2005, Current Biology.

[10]  Shrikanth S. Narayanan,et al.  Development of Socially Assistive Robots For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2009 .

[11]  D Feil-Seifer,et al.  Socially Assistive Robotics , 2011, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

[12]  Elisabeth André,et al.  Creation and Evaluation of emotion expression with body movement, sound and eye color for humanoid robots , 2011, 2011 RO-MAN.

[13]  Ana Paiva,et al.  Social Robots for Long-Term Interaction: A Survey , 2013, International Journal of Social Robotics.

[14]  Deborah C. Beidel,et al.  Social Skills Interventions for Children with Asperger’s Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism: A Review and Recommendations , 2008, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[15]  B. Scassellati,et al.  Robots for use in autism research. , 2012, Annual review of biomedical engineering.

[16]  Omar Mubin,et al.  Children views' on social robot's adaptations in education , 2016, OZCHI.

[17]  Juan Pablo Hourcade,et al.  Evaluation of tablet apps to encourage social interaction in children with autism spectrum disorders , 2013, CHI.

[18]  Brian Scassellati,et al.  Socially assistive robotics [Grand Challenges of Robotics] , 2007, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

[19]  Suleman Shahid,et al.  A Game-Based Intervention for Improving the Communication Skills of Autistic Children in Pakistan , 2014, ICCHP.