An interdisciplinary team of mechanical engineers and autism experts at Vanderbilt University have developed robotic systems that will enhance the basic social learning skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The initial impetus for the project came from Vanderbilt Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering Nilanjan Sarkar. His original research involved the development of systems to improve the man-machine interface. He did so by outfitting computer/robot users with biosensors and analyzing variations in various readings like blood pressure and skin response to evaluate their emotional state. The information was used to program computers and robots to respond accordingly. At the time, several experiments had been conducted that suggested young children in general, and young children with ASD in particular, found robots especially appealing.
The researchers built an “intelligent environment” around NAO, a commercial humanoid robot made in France, whose control architecture was augmented for the purpose. The small robot stands on a table at the front of the room. Flat panel displays are attached to the side walls. The chair where the child sits faces the front of the room and is high enough to put the robot at eye level. The room is equipped with a number of inexpensive web cameras that are aimed at the chair. Their purpose is to track the child’s head movements, so the system can determine where he or she is looking. To aid in this effort, children in the study wore a baseball cap decorated with a strip of LED lights that allowed the computer to infer where they are looking.
NAO has been programmed with a series of verbal prompts, such as “look over here” and “let’s do some more,” and gestures such as looking and pointing at one of the displays, that imitate the prompts and gestures that human therapists use in joint attention training. The protocol begins with a verbal prompt that asks the child to look at an image or video displayed on one of the screens. If the child doesn’t respond, then the therapist provides increasing support by combining a verbal prompt with physical gestures such as turning her head or pointing. When the child looks at the target then the therapist responds with praise, such as telling the child, “good job.”
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Transcript
00:00:00 [Music] I see beautiful colors I see lights it's a different world it can be so very different for children like three-year-old Aiden hi Aiden budy Aiden and his twin brother Beck have autism spectrum disorder each affected in a different way Aiden likes to play and there's a new playmate a twoot robot
00:00:39 hien my name is now and this special robot plays back I want you to find some things it's in an interactive room monitors show pictures and videos an infrared lights on Aiden's hat signal to cameras around the room when he responds telling the robot to change its reply Aiden look good job we demonstrated that if the children were really more interested
00:01:11 towards the robot than human therapies then the robot might be able to use this engagement to some beneficial activities the study found that young autistic children spent significantly more time looking at the robot than a typically developing child did Aiden look at it and capturing attention is critical for early intervention treatment to pull
00:01:37 that attention to that humanoid robot to build up some of these skills such as following the robot's gaze following the point then we're able to work with that and transfer it over to humans let's do some more Aiden look good job the robot therapy would not take the place of a therapist but but it creates another treatment tool good
00:02:06 job it might make intervention more accessible to some individuals during times where they might be waiting for other services see you later all right you did so well thank you so much Aiden the hope is that child's play with a robot helps improve life for Aiden and others like him thank you yeah bye bye thank you very much Miss
00:02:33 Amy bye you in Nashville Barb creamer reporting
