Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Toward Socially Assistive Robotics for Augmenting Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Conference paper
Book cover Experimental Robotics

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 54))

Summary

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have communication deficits and difficulties with social interaction. A lack of social behavior can hamper therapeutic interventions and can diminish the ability to learn social skills. Robots have been shown to provoke proactive social behavior in children with ASD. We are developing robot systems capable of acting as catalysts for social behavior in the context of ASD therapy. We present an experiment design for evaluating the effects of a socially assistive robot in a therapeutic setting and results of a pilot experiment with children with ASD interacting with such a robot.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Breazeal, C., Hoffman, G., Lockerd, A.: Teaching and working with robots as a collaboration. In: Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, New York, NY, vol. 3, pp. 1030–1037 (July 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dautenhahn, K.: Robots as social actors: Aurora and the case of autism. In: Proceedings of the Third Cognitive Technology Conference, San Francisco, California (August 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Edwards, N., Beck, A.: Animal-assisted therapy and nutrition in Alzheimer’s disease. Western Journal of Nursing Research 24(6), 697–712 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Feil-Seifer, D., Matarić, M.: Defining socially assistive robotics. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, Chicago, Il, pp. 465–468 (July 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Feil-Seifer, D.J., Matarić, M.J.: B3IA: An architecture for autonomous robot-assisted behavior intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. In: IEEE Proceedings of the International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Munich, Germany (submitted) (August 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Feil-Seifer, D.J., Skinner, K.M., Matarić, M.J.: Benchmarks for evaluating socially assistive robotics. Interaction Studies: Psychological Benchmarks of Human-Robot Interaction 8(3), 423–439 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Greenspan, S., Wieder, S.: Developmental patterns and outcomes in infants and children with disorders in relating and communicating: A chart review of 200 cases of children with autistic spectrum diagnoses. Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders 1(1), 87–141 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kasari, C., Freeman, S., Paparella, T.: Joint attention and symbolic play in young children with autism: a randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47, 611–620 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kidd, C.D., Breazeal, C.: Effect of a robot on user perceptions. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Sendai, Japan, pp. 3559–3564 (September 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kim, J., Szatmari, P., Bryson, S., Streiner, D., Wilson, F.: The prevalence of anxiety and mood problems among children with autism and asperger syndrome. Autism 4, 117–132 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Koegel, L., Carter, C., Koegel, R.: Teaching children with autism self-initiations as a pivotal response. Topics in Language Disorders 23, 134–145 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kozima, H., Nakagawa, C., Yasuda, Y.: Interactive robots for communication-care: a case-study in autism therapy. In: IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN), Nashville, TN, pp. 341–346 (August 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kozima, H., Nakagawa, C., Yasuda, Y.: Children-robot interaction: a pilot study in autism therapy. Prog. Brain Res. 164, 385–400 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lathan, C., Vice, J., Tracey, M., Plaisant, C., Druin, A., Edward, K., Montemayor, J.: Therapeutic play with a storytelling robot. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 27–28. ACM Press, New York (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lathan, C., Boser, K., Safos, C., Frentz, C., Powers, K.: Using cosmo’s learning system (CLS) with children with autism. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Technology-Based Learning with Disabilities, Dayton, OH, pp. 37–47 (July 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook Jr., E.H., Leventhal, B.L., DiLavore, P.C., Pickles, A., Rutter, M.: The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 30(3), 205–223 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Michaud, F., Laplante, J.-F., Larouche, H., Duquette, A., Caron, S., Letourneau, D., Masson, P.: Autonomous spherical mobile robot for child-development studies. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 35(4), 471–480 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Parise, S., Kiesler, S., Sproull, L., Waters, K.: Cooperating with life-like interface agents. Computers in Human Behavior 15(2), 123–142 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Boekhorst, R., Billard, A.: Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills? Universal Access in the Information Society 4(2), 105–120 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Scassellati, B.: Quantitative metrics of social response for autism diagnosis. In: IEEE International Workshop on Robots and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN), Nashville, TN, August 2005, pp. 585–590 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Tapus, A., Matarić, M.J.: User personality matching with hands-off robot for post-stroke rehabilitation therapy. In: Proceedings, International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Tapus, A., Fasola, J., Matarić, M.J.: Socially assistive robots for individuals suffering from dementia. In: ACM/IEEE 3rd Human-Robot Interaction International Conference, Workshop on Robotic Helpers: User Interaction, Interfaces and Companions in Assistive and Therapy Robotics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (March 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Volkmar, F., Klin, A., Cohen, D.: Diagnosis and classification of autism and related conditions: Consensus and issues. Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders 2, 5–40 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Wada, K., Shibata, T., Saito, T., Sakamoto, K., Tanie, K.: Psychological and Social Effects of One Year Robot Assisted Activity on Elderly People at a Health Service Facility for the Aged. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 2785–2790 (September 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Wolf, S., Thompson, P., Morris, D., Rose, D., Winstein, C., Taub, E., Giuliani, C., Pearson, S.: The EXCITE trial: Attributes of the wolf motor function test in patients with subacute stroke. Neurorehabil Neural Repair 19, 194–205 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interaction Laboratory, Computer Science Department Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA, 90089

    David Feil-Seifer & Maja J. Matarić

Authors
  1. David Feil-Seifer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maja J. Matarić
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, CA 94305-9010, Stanford, USA

    Oussama Khatib

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, 3330 Walnut Street, PA 19104, Philadelphia, USA

    Vijay Kumar

  3. Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 460 Levine Hall, 200 South 33rd Street, PA 19104, Philadelphia, USA

    George J. Pappas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Feil-Seifer, D., Matarić, M.J. (2009). Toward Socially Assistive Robotics for Augmenting Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In: Khatib, O., Kumar, V., Pappas, G.J. (eds) Experimental Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 54. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00196-3_24

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00196-3_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-00195-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-00196-3

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation