RoboChild Helps Research in Autism

Meet KASPAR. He is the newborn at the University of Hertfordshire.

KASPAR (Kinesic and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics) is a child-sized robot developed by Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn and her team to study human-robot interaction. With a silicon-rubber face and an aluminum frame body, KASPAR is a humanoid robot capable of human-like physical responses.

As a part of the European RobotCub Project, KASPAR will be used to help autistic children to learn harmless and appropriate methods of play. Recognizing that playing is essential to a child’s development, since it teaches the child about self-awareness, social relationships and physical environment, researchers are working to build a safe environment for autistic children. Due to physical or cognitive impairments, many autistic children are prevented from playing with others, so KASPAR is designed to become their new playmate.

But KASPAR is no Barbie doll. He has 2 DOF eyes fitted with video cameras, a mouth capable of opening and smiling, 8 degrees of freedom in his head and neck, and 6 in his arms and hands. In a word, though he may not be the perfect imitation of a real child, he certainly can move like one. Most impressively, KASPAR has Roboskin with tactile sensors!

“The idea is to put skin on the robot as touch is a very important part of social development and communication and the tactile sensors will allow the robot to detect different types of touch,” says Professor Dautenhahn.

With the senses of sight and touch, KASPAR will be able to record behavioral data as it interacts with autistic children. Furthermore, it will be able to respond to the children’s actions to either encourage or discourage various manners of play.

According to Professor Dautenhahn and her team, this is the first time that such an approach has been used to help the development of autistic children in a social environment. If the study succeeds in its goal, it would be one small robot for Professor Dautenhahn and one giant leap for autistic research.

Posted by Fan Li.

Comments

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

A robot, android, whatever, would be autistic until they can process sensory input from the outside world. Is developing a kindred cybernetic " spirit " therapy or a high - tech form of enabling ?

Gotta wonder.....