Social Robot for Autism

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Scassellati, B., Boccanfuso, L., Huang, C. M., Mademtzi, M., Qin, M., Salomons, N., ... & Shic, F. (2018). Improving social skills in children with ASD using a long-term, in-home social robot. Science Robotics, 3(21), eaat7544.

We explored the use of social robots as a potential tool for improving the social communication skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Unlike previous research, which typically involved short, controlled interactions in lab settings, this study took place over a month in the children's homes.

During this time, 12 children aged 6 to 12 engaged in daily 30-minute sessions with an autonomous social robot and a caregiver. These sessions focused on activities related to emotional storytelling, perspective-taking, and sequencing. The robot played a key role in encouraging participation, adjusting task difficulty based on the child's progress, and modeling positive social behaviors.

Results showed that the children remained engaged throughout the month-long intervention, and they demonstrated improved joint attention skills when interacting with adults even in the absence of the robot. Caregiver feedback supported these findings, as they reported a decrease in the need for prompting and an overall increase in communication among the children. Our research highlights the potential of long-term, in-home social robot interventions to enhance the social skills of children with ASD.