In this work, we tested a recently developed novel methodology to assist children with Autism Spe... more In this work, we tested a recently developed novel methodology to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improve their Visual Perspective Taking (VPT) and Theory of Mind (ToM) skills using the humanoid robot Kaspar. VPT is the ability to see the world from another person’s perspective, drawing upon both social and spatial information. Children with ASD often find it difficult to understand that others might have perspectives, viewpoints and beliefs that are different from their own, which is a fundamental aspect of both VPT and ToM. The games we designed were implemented as the first attempt to study if these skills can be improved in children with ASD through interacting with a humanoid robot in a series of trials. The games involved a number of different actions with the common goal of helping the children to see the world from the robot’s perspective. Children with ASD were recruited to the study according to specific inclusion criteria that were determined in a prev...
The discussion presented in this paper is part of our investigation in the Aurora project into th... more The discussion presented in this paper is part of our investigation in the Aurora project into the potential use of robots as therapeutic or educational ‘toys ’ specifically for use by children with autism. The paper raises some cautions concerning social isolation and stereotypical behaviour frequently exhibited in children with autism. We present some examples taken from trials with the robots where the children exhibit such behaviour, and discuss possible ways of ensuring not to reinforce stereotypical behaviour and a tendency to social isolation in the children. Especially, we point out an avenue of robots becoming social mediators (mediating contact between children and other children or adults). The paper exemplifies interaction where social behaviour was directed at the robot which raises awareness of the goal of the research, namely to help the children to increase their social interaction skills with other people and not simply create relationships with a ‘social ’ robot wh...
This paper presents results of a novel study on interaction kinesics where 18 children interacted... more This paper presents results of a novel study on interaction kinesics where 18 children interacted with a humanoid child-sized robot called KASPAR. Based on findings in psychology and social sciences we propose the temporal behaviour matching hypothesis which predicts that children will adapt to and match the robot’s temporal behaviour. Each child took part in six experimental trials involving two games in which the dynamics of interactions played a key part: a body expression imitation game, where the robot imitated expressions demonstrated by the children, and a drumming game where the robot mirrored the children’s drumming. In both games KASPAR responded either with or without a delay. Additionally, in the drumming game, KASPAR responded with or without exhibiting facial/gestural expressions. Individual case studies as well as statistical analysis of the complete sample are presented. Results show that a delay of the robot’s drumming response lead to larger pauses (with and withou...
This work is part of our investigation in the IROMEC project (IROMEC Interactive RObots as MEdiat... more This work is part of our investigation in the IROMEC project (IROMEC Interactive RObots as MEdiators Companions), a European FP6 project supported by the European Commission. The project recognizes the important role of play in child development and targets children who are prevented from or inhibited in playing, either due to cognitive, developmental, or physical impairment, which affect their playing skills leading to general impairment in their learning potential, cognitive development, and may result in isolation from the social environment. IROMEC investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators encouraging children with disabilities to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to social and cooperative play, and provide opportunities for learning and enjoyment involving other children as well as carers/teachers or parents who “join in” the game with the robot. Our group has about 10 years of experience in robot-assisted play involving various mobile and humanoid ...
In this paper we discuss the use of interactive environments in autism therapy. In particular we ... more In this paper we discuss the use of interactive environments in autism therapy. In particular we review the Aurora project and summarise the results of three studies within Aurora project, one using a non-humanoid mobile robot, one using a small humanoid doll robot, and the last using a touch sensitive screen. All three studies seek, in different ways, to promote social skills and an enhanced sense of self and other. We draw some comparisons between the technologies.
The study described in this article is part of our contribution to the Horizon 2020 Babyrobot pro... more The study described in this article is part of our contribution to the Horizon 2020 Babyrobot project, where we have created different play scenarios for children with autism to playfully explore elements that are important in developing Visual Perspective Taking (VPT) skills. Individuals with autism often have difficulty with Theory of Mind (TOM) and the understanding that other individuals have their own thoughts, beliefs, plans and perspectives. Visual Perspective Taking is the ability to view the world from another individual’s perspective, e.g. understanding that other individuals have a different line of sight to oneself, and also understanding that two or more people viewing the same object from different points in space might see different things. It is believed that TOM and VPT may share common cognitive processes.
Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex lifelong neurodevelopmental di... more Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by difficulties in social communication and stereotyped behaviours. Due to the increasing number of children with ASD, it is important to continue developing interventions as well as invent new ones. Human-robot interaction can contribute to better outcomes for these children. There are several robots such as Nao, Kaspar, ZENO, Probo, ZECA, etc. which are used in autism interventions. Many mobile and web applications are in constant growth, too. They target skills such as collaboration, social skills, language skills, social competence, and communication. Aim: To explore the usability of the humanoid robot Kaspar and a complementary app in interventions of children with ASD. Sample: 20 children with ASD, aged between 23 and 76 months old. Method: As an added intervention for this group of children, we used the robot Kaspar and its complementary app. Kaspar is a chi...
Communications in Computer and Information Science
Autism is a developmental disability defined as deficits in social communication and interaction ... more Autism is a developmental disability defined as deficits in social communication and interaction and presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests and activities. A recent study from April 2018, estimates autism’s prevalence to be 1 in 59 children. The symptoms are manifested as continuum or spectrum, from mild to severe manifestations, demanding different degrees of support in the daily life. Children diagnosed with autism may benefit from early interventions when adjusted to their specific needs. The aim of the study described in this paper was to explore the possible added value of the humanoid robot Kaspar as an intervention tool, in therapeutic and educational purposes in children with autism or robot-assisted play in the context of autism therapy in a hospital setting. This paper provides case studies evaluation of some interaction aspects (i.e. learning basic emotions (happy and sad) and social skills (greetings) etc.) between two young children with severe form of autism and Kaspar. An observational analysis of the skills and the behavior of the children was undertaken across the one year trials. They interacted very fast and quite spontaneously with Kaspar which made a solid ground for achieving our goals-social communication skills as greetings, social interaction skills as eye gaze, learning emotions etc. Our preliminary conclusion is that children are learning in this robot-assisted play, enjoy interaction with a robot, gain and learn quick new knowledge, show much more communication, initiative and proactivity, improve their behavior and generalize some of the learned information in real life.
Luke Wood, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Hagen Lehmnn, Ben Robbins, Austen Rainer, and Dag Sverre Syrdal, &... more Luke Wood, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Hagen Lehmnn, Ben Robbins, Austen Rainer, and Dag Sverre Syrdal, 'Robot-Mediated Interviews: Does a Robotic Interviewer Impact Question Difficulty and Information Recovery?', Assistive Technology : From Research to Practice, proceedings of the AAATE 2013 Conference, 19 - 22 September 2013, Villamoura, Portugal, ISBN: 9781614993032 (print), ISBN: 9781614993049 (electronic), published by IOS Press. Available online at doi: 10.3233/978-1-61499-304-9-131
This paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research to support the develo... more This paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research to support the development of social skills and capabilities in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders as well as Typically Developing children. We present preliminary results of a novel experiment where classical roles are reversed: children are here the teachers giving positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot to make it learn arbitrary associations between toys and locations where to tidy them. The goal is to help children change perspective, and understand that sometimes a learning agent needs several repetitions before correctly learning something. We developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its uncertainty along learning, so as to better inform the interacting child of the reasons behind successes and failures made by the robot. Overall, 30 children aged between 7 and 8 (19 girls, 11 boys) performed 16 sessions of the experiment in groups, and manage...
A Humanoid Robot as Assistive Technology for Encouraging Social Interaction Skills in Children wi... more A Humanoid Robot as Assistive Technology for Encouraging Social Interaction Skills in Children with Autism Ben Robins A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Hertfordshire ... the University of Hertfordshire. Ben Robins i Page 3. Abstract ...
This article describes a long-term study evaluating the use of the humanoid robot Kaspar in a spe... more This article describes a long-term study evaluating the use of the humanoid robot Kaspar in a specialist nursery for children with autism. The robot was used as a tool in the hands of teachers or volunteers, in the absence of the research team on-site. On average each child spent 16.53 months in the study. Staff and volunteers at the nursery were trained in using Kaspar and were using it in their day-to-day activities in the nursery. Our study combines an “in the wild” approach with a rigorous approach of collecting and including users’ feedback during an iterative evaluation and design cycle of the robot. This article focuses on the design of the study and the results from several interviews with the robot’s users. We also show results from the children’s developmental assessments by the teachers prior to and after the study. Results suggest a marked beneficial effect for the children from interacting with Kaspar. We highlight the challenges of transferring experimental technologie...
This paper presents a contribution aiming at testing novel child–robot teaching schemes that coul... more This paper presents a contribution aiming at testing novel child–robot teaching schemes that could be used in future studies to support the development of social and collaborative skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We present a novel experiment where the classical roles are reversed: in this scenario the children are the teachers providing positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot in order for it to learn arbitrary associations between different toy names and the locations where they are positioned. The objective is to stimulate interaction and collaboration between children while teaching the robot, and also provide them tangible examples to understand that sometimes learning requires several repetitions. To facilitate this game, we developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its level of uncertainty during the learning process, so as to better inform the children about the reasons behind its successes and failu...
Previous studies conducted with the humanoid robot Kaspar in the UK have yielded many encouraging... more Previous studies conducted with the humanoid robot Kaspar in the UK have yielded many encouraging results. This paper examines the influence of conducting play sessions with Kaspar on the social and communication skills of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) and suggests possible ways for using the robot as a (therapeutic) tool in a Greek school for children with special needs. Over a period of 10 weeks 7 children took part in a total of 111 individual play sessions with the Kaspar robot. Each child participated in between 12 and 18 sessions with the robot. The results from this study indicate that the play sessions with Kaspar appear to have positively influenced the behaviours of some of the children in specific domains such as communication and interaction, prompted speech, unprompted imitation and focus/attention. Furthermore, the children’s teachers expressed positive views regarding the impact of the play sessions on the children and offered interesting sug...
In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (A... more In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASD) emerged as a potentially useful area of research. Since then the field of assistive robotics for children with ASD has grown considerably with many academics trialling different robots and approaches. One such robot is the humanoid robot Kaspar that was originally developed in 2005 and has continually been built upon since, taking advantage of technological developments along the way. A key principle in the development of Kaspar since its creation has been to ensure that all of the advances to the platform are driven by the requirements of the users. In this paper we discuss the development of Kaspar’s design and explain the rationale behind each change to the platform. Designing and building a humanoid robot to interact with and help children with ASD is a multidisciplinary challenge that requires knowledge of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, Human–Computer Intera...
In this work, we tested a recently developed novel methodology to assist children with Autism Spe... more In this work, we tested a recently developed novel methodology to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improve their Visual Perspective Taking (VPT) and Theory of Mind (ToM) skills using the humanoid robot Kaspar. VPT is the ability to see the world from another person’s perspective, drawing upon both social and spatial information. Children with ASD often find it difficult to understand that others might have perspectives, viewpoints and beliefs that are different from their own, which is a fundamental aspect of both VPT and ToM. The games we designed were implemented as the first attempt to study if these skills can be improved in children with ASD through interacting with a humanoid robot in a series of trials. The games involved a number of different actions with the common goal of helping the children to see the world from the robot’s perspective. Children with ASD were recruited to the study according to specific inclusion criteria that were determined in a prev...
The discussion presented in this paper is part of our investigation in the Aurora project into th... more The discussion presented in this paper is part of our investigation in the Aurora project into the potential use of robots as therapeutic or educational ‘toys ’ specifically for use by children with autism. The paper raises some cautions concerning social isolation and stereotypical behaviour frequently exhibited in children with autism. We present some examples taken from trials with the robots where the children exhibit such behaviour, and discuss possible ways of ensuring not to reinforce stereotypical behaviour and a tendency to social isolation in the children. Especially, we point out an avenue of robots becoming social mediators (mediating contact between children and other children or adults). The paper exemplifies interaction where social behaviour was directed at the robot which raises awareness of the goal of the research, namely to help the children to increase their social interaction skills with other people and not simply create relationships with a ‘social ’ robot wh...
This paper presents results of a novel study on interaction kinesics where 18 children interacted... more This paper presents results of a novel study on interaction kinesics where 18 children interacted with a humanoid child-sized robot called KASPAR. Based on findings in psychology and social sciences we propose the temporal behaviour matching hypothesis which predicts that children will adapt to and match the robot’s temporal behaviour. Each child took part in six experimental trials involving two games in which the dynamics of interactions played a key part: a body expression imitation game, where the robot imitated expressions demonstrated by the children, and a drumming game where the robot mirrored the children’s drumming. In both games KASPAR responded either with or without a delay. Additionally, in the drumming game, KASPAR responded with or without exhibiting facial/gestural expressions. Individual case studies as well as statistical analysis of the complete sample are presented. Results show that a delay of the robot’s drumming response lead to larger pauses (with and withou...
This work is part of our investigation in the IROMEC project (IROMEC Interactive RObots as MEdiat... more This work is part of our investigation in the IROMEC project (IROMEC Interactive RObots as MEdiators Companions), a European FP6 project supported by the European Commission. The project recognizes the important role of play in child development and targets children who are prevented from or inhibited in playing, either due to cognitive, developmental, or physical impairment, which affect their playing skills leading to general impairment in their learning potential, cognitive development, and may result in isolation from the social environment. IROMEC investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators encouraging children with disabilities to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to social and cooperative play, and provide opportunities for learning and enjoyment involving other children as well as carers/teachers or parents who “join in” the game with the robot. Our group has about 10 years of experience in robot-assisted play involving various mobile and humanoid ...
In this paper we discuss the use of interactive environments in autism therapy. In particular we ... more In this paper we discuss the use of interactive environments in autism therapy. In particular we review the Aurora project and summarise the results of three studies within Aurora project, one using a non-humanoid mobile robot, one using a small humanoid doll robot, and the last using a touch sensitive screen. All three studies seek, in different ways, to promote social skills and an enhanced sense of self and other. We draw some comparisons between the technologies.
The study described in this article is part of our contribution to the Horizon 2020 Babyrobot pro... more The study described in this article is part of our contribution to the Horizon 2020 Babyrobot project, where we have created different play scenarios for children with autism to playfully explore elements that are important in developing Visual Perspective Taking (VPT) skills. Individuals with autism often have difficulty with Theory of Mind (TOM) and the understanding that other individuals have their own thoughts, beliefs, plans and perspectives. Visual Perspective Taking is the ability to view the world from another individual’s perspective, e.g. understanding that other individuals have a different line of sight to oneself, and also understanding that two or more people viewing the same object from different points in space might see different things. It is believed that TOM and VPT may share common cognitive processes.
Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex lifelong neurodevelopmental di... more Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by difficulties in social communication and stereotyped behaviours. Due to the increasing number of children with ASD, it is important to continue developing interventions as well as invent new ones. Human-robot interaction can contribute to better outcomes for these children. There are several robots such as Nao, Kaspar, ZENO, Probo, ZECA, etc. which are used in autism interventions. Many mobile and web applications are in constant growth, too. They target skills such as collaboration, social skills, language skills, social competence, and communication. Aim: To explore the usability of the humanoid robot Kaspar and a complementary app in interventions of children with ASD. Sample: 20 children with ASD, aged between 23 and 76 months old. Method: As an added intervention for this group of children, we used the robot Kaspar and its complementary app. Kaspar is a chi...
Communications in Computer and Information Science
Autism is a developmental disability defined as deficits in social communication and interaction ... more Autism is a developmental disability defined as deficits in social communication and interaction and presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests and activities. A recent study from April 2018, estimates autism’s prevalence to be 1 in 59 children. The symptoms are manifested as continuum or spectrum, from mild to severe manifestations, demanding different degrees of support in the daily life. Children diagnosed with autism may benefit from early interventions when adjusted to their specific needs. The aim of the study described in this paper was to explore the possible added value of the humanoid robot Kaspar as an intervention tool, in therapeutic and educational purposes in children with autism or robot-assisted play in the context of autism therapy in a hospital setting. This paper provides case studies evaluation of some interaction aspects (i.e. learning basic emotions (happy and sad) and social skills (greetings) etc.) between two young children with severe form of autism and Kaspar. An observational analysis of the skills and the behavior of the children was undertaken across the one year trials. They interacted very fast and quite spontaneously with Kaspar which made a solid ground for achieving our goals-social communication skills as greetings, social interaction skills as eye gaze, learning emotions etc. Our preliminary conclusion is that children are learning in this robot-assisted play, enjoy interaction with a robot, gain and learn quick new knowledge, show much more communication, initiative and proactivity, improve their behavior and generalize some of the learned information in real life.
Luke Wood, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Hagen Lehmnn, Ben Robbins, Austen Rainer, and Dag Sverre Syrdal, &... more Luke Wood, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Hagen Lehmnn, Ben Robbins, Austen Rainer, and Dag Sverre Syrdal, 'Robot-Mediated Interviews: Does a Robotic Interviewer Impact Question Difficulty and Information Recovery?', Assistive Technology : From Research to Practice, proceedings of the AAATE 2013 Conference, 19 - 22 September 2013, Villamoura, Portugal, ISBN: 9781614993032 (print), ISBN: 9781614993049 (electronic), published by IOS Press. Available online at doi: 10.3233/978-1-61499-304-9-131
This paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research to support the develo... more This paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research to support the development of social skills and capabilities in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders as well as Typically Developing children. We present preliminary results of a novel experiment where classical roles are reversed: children are here the teachers giving positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot to make it learn arbitrary associations between toys and locations where to tidy them. The goal is to help children change perspective, and understand that sometimes a learning agent needs several repetitions before correctly learning something. We developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its uncertainty along learning, so as to better inform the interacting child of the reasons behind successes and failures made by the robot. Overall, 30 children aged between 7 and 8 (19 girls, 11 boys) performed 16 sessions of the experiment in groups, and manage...
A Humanoid Robot as Assistive Technology for Encouraging Social Interaction Skills in Children wi... more A Humanoid Robot as Assistive Technology for Encouraging Social Interaction Skills in Children with Autism Ben Robins A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Hertfordshire ... the University of Hertfordshire. Ben Robins i Page 3. Abstract ...
This article describes a long-term study evaluating the use of the humanoid robot Kaspar in a spe... more This article describes a long-term study evaluating the use of the humanoid robot Kaspar in a specialist nursery for children with autism. The robot was used as a tool in the hands of teachers or volunteers, in the absence of the research team on-site. On average each child spent 16.53 months in the study. Staff and volunteers at the nursery were trained in using Kaspar and were using it in their day-to-day activities in the nursery. Our study combines an “in the wild” approach with a rigorous approach of collecting and including users’ feedback during an iterative evaluation and design cycle of the robot. This article focuses on the design of the study and the results from several interviews with the robot’s users. We also show results from the children’s developmental assessments by the teachers prior to and after the study. Results suggest a marked beneficial effect for the children from interacting with Kaspar. We highlight the challenges of transferring experimental technologie...
This paper presents a contribution aiming at testing novel child–robot teaching schemes that coul... more This paper presents a contribution aiming at testing novel child–robot teaching schemes that could be used in future studies to support the development of social and collaborative skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We present a novel experiment where the classical roles are reversed: in this scenario the children are the teachers providing positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot in order for it to learn arbitrary associations between different toy names and the locations where they are positioned. The objective is to stimulate interaction and collaboration between children while teaching the robot, and also provide them tangible examples to understand that sometimes learning requires several repetitions. To facilitate this game, we developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its level of uncertainty during the learning process, so as to better inform the children about the reasons behind its successes and failu...
Previous studies conducted with the humanoid robot Kaspar in the UK have yielded many encouraging... more Previous studies conducted with the humanoid robot Kaspar in the UK have yielded many encouraging results. This paper examines the influence of conducting play sessions with Kaspar on the social and communication skills of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) and suggests possible ways for using the robot as a (therapeutic) tool in a Greek school for children with special needs. Over a period of 10 weeks 7 children took part in a total of 111 individual play sessions with the Kaspar robot. Each child participated in between 12 and 18 sessions with the robot. The results from this study indicate that the play sessions with Kaspar appear to have positively influenced the behaviours of some of the children in specific domains such as communication and interaction, prompted speech, unprompted imitation and focus/attention. Furthermore, the children’s teachers expressed positive views regarding the impact of the play sessions on the children and offered interesting sug...
In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (A... more In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASD) emerged as a potentially useful area of research. Since then the field of assistive robotics for children with ASD has grown considerably with many academics trialling different robots and approaches. One such robot is the humanoid robot Kaspar that was originally developed in 2005 and has continually been built upon since, taking advantage of technological developments along the way. A key principle in the development of Kaspar since its creation has been to ensure that all of the advances to the platform are driven by the requirements of the users. In this paper we discuss the development of Kaspar’s design and explain the rationale behind each change to the platform. Designing and building a humanoid robot to interact with and help children with ASD is a multidisciplinary challenge that requires knowledge of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, Human–Computer Intera...
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