A study of auti: a socially assistive robotic toy

This paper presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of a new sociallyassistive robot, Auti, in encouraging physical and verbal interactions in children with autism. It aims to encourage positive play behaviors such as gentle speaking and touching, with positive reinforcement through movement responses, and to discourage challenging behaviors, such as screaming or hitting through the removal of the reinforcing movements. This study evaluates the design by comparing a fullyinteractive Auti to an activeonly version, which does the same movements but does not respond to the child. Results from 18 participants indicate that the Interactive Auti does encourage positive behaviors more than the Activeonly version. However, further design is needed around addressing problematic behaviors.