from Wired magazine:
Children with autism are often described as robotic: They are emotionless. They engage in obsessive, repetitive behavior and have trouble communicating and socializing.
Now, a humanoid robot designed to teach autistic children social skills has begun testing in British schools.
Known as KASPAR (Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics), the $4.33 million bot smiles, simulates surprise and sadness, gesticulates and, the researchers hope, will encourage social interaction amongst autistic children.
Developed as part of the pan-European IROMEC (Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions ) project, KASPAR has two “eyes” fitted with video cameras and a mouth that can open and smile.
Children with autism have difficulty understanding and interpreting people’s facial expressions and body language, says Dr. Ben Robins, a senior research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire’s Adaptive Systems Research Group, who leads the multi-national team behind KASPAR.
“Human interaction can be very subtle, with even the smallest eyebrow raise, for example, having different meanings in different contexts,” Robins said. “It is thought that autistic children cut themselves off from interacting with other humans because, for them, this is too much information and it is too confusing for them to understand.”
With this in mind, the team designed KASPAR to express emotion consistently and with the minimum of complexity.
KASPAR’s face is made of silicon-rubber supported on an aluminum frame. Eight degrees of freedom in the head and neck and six in the arms and hands enable movement.
The researchers hope that the end result is a human-like robot that can act as a “social mediator” for autistic children, a steppingstone to improved social interaction with other children and adults.
“KASPAR provides autistic children with reliability and predictability. Since there are no surprises, they feel safe and secure,” Robins said, adding that the purpose is not to replace human interaction and contact but to enhance it.
Robins has already tested some imitation and turn-taking games with the children and his preliminary findings are positive.
“When I first started testing, the children treated me like a fly on the wall,” he said. “But each one of them, in their own time, started to open themselves up to me. One child in particular, after weeks on end of ignoring me, came and sat in my lap and then took my hand and brought me to the robot, to share the experience of KASPAR with me.”
I saw this earlier today [or was it yesterday? Jet lag] It seems very innovative but I don’t see a price advertised anywhere.
Best wishes
We have an autistic son and welcome any news of creative breakthroughs. We are fortunate – our son is emotionally more connected than many autisitic kids so there is much of that normal family affection to share. Our heart goes out to the many parents who much do so much extra work with very little emotional return. What a sacrificial way they must walk.
In addition to my husband Tim’s response, I have a few questions. Will these robots be used primarily in schools? Can they ever be programmed to be a type of “shadow” for a child such as ours, lower on the spectrum, but verbal, as a simple re-direction tool? It certainly would lower the frustration inexperienced aides of and need for additional assistance. We have fought desperately in 2 different states (in the U.S.) for district(s) to provide a one-on-one for our son. When we were able to have one at home (that is not offerred anymore) he learned more in a few weeks than in months. All we’d need to know is what the robot (and teachers) are doing and how we can follow-up at home. Even now, at age 13, he would no doubt benefit. I wonder whether experiments with the robot alone with the child and with the robot and a teacher or teacher(s) with the child would be of great help. Good for you! We must never give up. Families who could provide 1/2 million American dollars have not found enough help. Either could we. Blessings on you and your work and all the families that we are connected to in this way.
As the mother of a young adult son on the upper end of the autism spectrum, I’m encouraged by every innovation designed to help anyone with autism.
It is disappointingly apparent that those with autism will have to adjust to accommodate the world; the world does not seem inclined to accommodate them.