Personal Robot-Assisted Activity for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders : A Comparative Study with Animal-Assisted Activity

Masakazu Hirokawa, Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
Atsushi Funahashi, Dept Education and Social Service Inst Developmental Res, Aichi Human Service Center, Kasugai, Japan
Yasushi Itoh, Dept Education and Social Service Inst Developmental Res, Aichi Human Service Center, Kasugai, Japan
Kenji Suzuki, Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba/JST, Japan

Robot-assisted activity (RAA) is a therapeutic/educational activity using robots for facilitating social interaction and communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Since autistic tendencies and existing abilities differ among individuals with ASD, it is important to assess the characteristics of each individual for determining an appropriate intervention protocol and robot's behavior based on the assessment. However, due to difficulties in programming robot's behavior, most previous RAA studies designed system and intervention protocol based on general understandings regarding ASD, and the importance of personalization of activity was not sufficiently discussed.
We propose a novel approach of RAA based on animal-assisted activity (AAA) that aims to facilitate positive social behaviors of children with ASD through a child-driven improvised interaction with animals. We developed a doll-type interface that allows a therapist to improvise the robot's behavior in real-time. It helps therapists observe a natural, continuous and spontaneous social interaction between participant and robot. This is important to assess the original social abilities of each participant for determining an appropriate robot behavior and intervention protocol.
To evaluate the proposed approach, we conducted an experiment with six children with ASD participating in AAA and measured their social behaviors, face-to-face behavior, and smiling during sessions. We observed participant's positive social behaviors to the robot comparable to the AAA session. On the other hand, the amount of negative social behaviors decreased compared to that of AAA.