Chapter 18 Games Children with Autism Can Play With Robota , a Humanoid Robotic Doll

This chapter discusses the potential use of a small, humanoid robotic doll called Robota in autism therapy. Robota was specifically designed for engaging children in imitative interaction games. This work is associated to the Aurora project where we study the potential therapeutic role of robots in autism therapy. This section provides the necessary background information on autism (18.1.1), and motivates the application of interactive technology in autism therapy (18.1.2). Section 18.1.3 discusses the important role of imitation and interaction games in the development of social skills. Section 18.2 introduces the Aurora project. Sections 18.3 and 18.4 briefly describe the humanoid doll Robota and its potential use in autism therapy. Observations from preliminary trials are discussed in Section 18.5 before section 18.6 concludes this chapter.

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