Autism Robotic Theater: a technological tool to contribute to the social interaction of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

Johanna Belen Tobar, Alan Prócel, David Loza, Eduardo Caicedo, Bladimir Bacca

Abstract


According to the World Health Organization, 0.62% of the world’s population has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is equivalent to 1 in 160 children. People with ASD have difficulties in communicative behaviors and social interaction. The assistance requirements to improve these deficits are complex. This research´s primary objective is to propose and implement a robotic theater called ART (Autism Robotic Theater) as a technological assistance tool to contribute to increase social interaction in children diagnosed with ASD. This robotic theater is based on a set of homogeneous humanoid robots performing gestures and actions. ART is formed by 3 NAO robots, a curtain, a narrator, and a software program that allows creating scripts easily and intuitively, to later interpret them. ART was presented in different sessions, to a group of children with ASD under two scenarios. The first scenario aims to encourage the interest and interaction of children with the tool. The second scenario uses the tool to develop a play where robots and children participate, encouraging interaction between them. From the results of an initial and a final evaluation of the children’s performance stands out an increase of 43.75% in the children’s imitation level and, increase of 39.58% in the children’s response and interaction with the robots. Despite the short evaluation time due to the pandemic, the results of the proposed structure have been favorable in the execution of the play in parallel with homogeneous robots and, the impact that the two scenarios have presented in children with TEA.

Keywords


Autism Spectrum Disorder; Technological Assistance Tool; Social Interaction; Gestures; Human-Robot Interaction

Full Text:

PDF

References


World Health Organization – “Trastornos del espectro autista”, March 2020 [Online] Available: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders

Bischoff, R.; Graefe V. "Hermes – a versatile personal robotic assistant". Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 92, no. 11, pp. 1759–779. Oct. 2008.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. – “Información básica sobre el trastorno del espectro autista.” July, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/spanish/autism/facts

Epifio, J. C.; Silva, L. F. "Scrutinizing Reviews on Computer Science Technologies for Autism: Issues and Challenges." IEEE Access, no. 8, pp. 32802-32815, Feb. 2020.

O. Grynszpan, E. P. Weiss, F. Perez-Diaz, E. Gal, “Innovative technology-based interventions for autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis". Autism, vol. 18, no. 4, 346–361, May. 2014.

Casas R., J. P.; Aparacio P., L. E. "Un análisis del autismo desde la perspectiva de su influencia en familias y la tecnología como facilitador en el manejo de esta condición. "Logos Ciencia & Tecnología, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 2422–4200. Dec. 2016.

Tortosa, F. T. "Avanzando en el uso de las TIC con personas con Trastorno del Espectro Autista." CPEE y Centro de Recursos para Niños Autistas “Las Boqueras”, 2000.

Cárdenas, A.; Segovia, E.; Tobar, J.; De la Cruz, D.; Mejía, P.; Paredes, N. "Application that contributes to the personal autonomy of children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Ecuador." CLEI, Oct. 2015.

Khowaja, K. "Augmented Reality for Learning of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Systematic Re-view". IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 78779–78807, Apr. 2020.

Akter, T. "Machine Learning-Based Models for Early Stage Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorders". IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 166509–166527. Nov. 2019.

Zhao, Z. "Applying Machine Learning to Identify Autism with Restricted Kinematic Features". IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 157614–157622, Oct. 2019.

Scassellati, B.; Admoni, H.; Mataric, M. "Robots for Use in Autism Research" Annual review of biomedical engineering, vol. 14, pp. 275–294. Aug. 2012.

Dickstein-Fischer, L.; Fischer, G. S. "Combining Psychological and Engineering Approaches to Utilizing Social Robots with Children with Autism". IEEE - EMBC, pp. 792–795. Aug. 2014.

Conn, K., Liu, C., Sarkar, N., Stone, W., & Warren, Z. "Affect-sensitive Assistive Intervention Technologies for Children with Autism: An Individual-specific Approach". IEEE-ROMAN, pp. 442–447. Aug. 2008.

Goulart, C. M.; Castillo, J.; Valadao, C. T.; Caldeira, E.; Bastos-Filho, T. F. "Mobile Robotics: A Tool for Interaction with Children with Autism". IEEE-ISIE, pp. 1555–1559. Jun. 2014.

Wanglavan, P.; Jutharee, W.; Maneewarn, T.; Kaewkamnerdpong, B. "The Development of Attention Detection Model from Child Behavior for Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy". ICCAS, pp. 775-780, Oct. 2019.

SoftBankRobotics – “NAO”. Jan, 2020. [Online] Available: https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao

Feng, Y.; Jia, Q.; Chu, M.; Wei, W. "Engagement Evaluation for Autism Intervention by Robots Based on Dynamic Bayesian Network and Expert Elicitation". IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 19494–19504, Sept. 2017

Shamsuddin, S.; Yussof, H.; Ismail, L. I.; Mohamed, S.; Hanapiah, F. A.; Zahari, N. I. "Humanoid Robot NAO Interacting with Autistic Children of Moderately Impaired Intelligence to Augment Communication Skills". IRIS, vol. 41, pp. 1533 – 1538. 2012.

Yang, X.; Shyu, M.; Yu, H.; Sun, S.; Yin, N.; Chen, W. "Integrating Image and Textual Information in Human–Robot Interactions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder". IEEE Transactions, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 746– 759, Mar. 2019.

Ali, S.; Mehmood F.; Dancey D.; Ayaz Y.; Khan M.; Naseer N.; Amadeu R.D.C.; Sadia H.; Nawaz R. "An Adaptive Multi-Robot Therapy for Improving Joint Attention and Imitation of ASD Children". IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 81808– 81825, Jun. 2019.

Ali, S.; Ayaz, F. M.; Khan, M. J.; Sadia, H.; Nawaz, R. "Comparing the Effectiveness of Different Reinforcement Stimuli in a Robotic Therapy for Children with ASD." IEEE Access, vol 8, pp. 13128–13137. Jan. 2020.

Fernandez, J. M. A.; Bonarini, J. M. "Towards an Autonomous Theatrical Robot". IEEE-ACII, pp. 689–694. Sept. 2013.

Lee, D.; Park, S.; Hahn, M.; Lee., N. "Robot Actors and Authoring Tools for Live Performance System". ICISA, pp. 1–3, May. 2014.

Barnes, J.; FakhrHosseini, M.; Vasey, E.; Duford, Z.; Jeon, M. "Robot Theater with Children for STEAM Education". HFES, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 875–879. Sept. 2017.

Barnes, J.; Fakhrhosseini, S.; Vasey, E.; Park, C. H.; M. Jeon. "Informal STEAM Education Case Study: Child-Robot Musical Theater". In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing. Glasgow, Scotland, UK., 4-9 May 2019; pp. 1–6.

Jeon et al. "Making live theater with multiple robots as actors bringing robots to rural schools to promote STEAM education for underserved students". HRI, pp. 445–446. Mar. 2016.

Corbett, Blythe; Swain, Deanna; Coke, Catherine; Simon, David; Newsom, Cassandra; Houchins-Juarez, Nea; Jenson, Ashley; Wang, Lily; Song, Yanna. "Improvement in Social Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Using a theater- Based, Peer-Mediated Intervention". Autism Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 4–16, Feb. 2014.

Corbett, B. A., Key, A. P., Qualls, L., Fecteau, S., Newsom, C., Coke, C., & Yoder, P. "Improvement in Social Competence Using a Randomized Trial of a theater Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder". JADD, vol. 46, pp. 658—672. Feb. 2016.

Calafat-Selma, M.; Sanz-Cervera, P.; Tárraga-Mínguez, R. "El teatro como herramienta de intervención en alumnos con trastorno del espectro autista y discapacidad intelectual". REI, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 95–108. 2016

Finchelman, M. Expresión teatral infantil: auxiliar del docente, Editorial Plus Ultra: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1981.

Light, R. A. "Mosquitto: server and client implementation of the MQTT protocol". JOSS, vol. 2, no. 13, pp. 265. May. 2017.

Alphen, A.; Halfens, R.; Hasman, A.; Imbos, T. "Likert or Rasch? Nothing is more applicable than good theory". Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 20, pp. 196—201, Jul. 1994.

FUVIME - Instituto de educación especial “Virgen de la merced". Propuesta del proyecto curricular institucional “P.C.I” 2010. Resolución No. 011 del Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21533/pen.v9i3.2187

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Johanna Belen Tobar, Alan Prócel, David Loza, Eduardo Caicedo, Bladimir Bacca

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ISSN: 2303-4521

Digital Object Identifier DOI: 10.21533/pen

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License