social-robots

Utility of Socially Interactive Robots for Promoting the Social-Communicative
Behavior of Young Children with Disabilities

 

The project involved a series of studies using socially interactive robots for promoting children with disabilities social-emotional, joint attention, vocalization production, conversational turns, and language development. Socially interactive robots include either autonomous or remotely controlled machines or devices that are used to engage young children in child-robot interactions. The studies conducted as part of the socially interactive robots project involved children with autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome and other chromosomal conditions, and attention deficit and sensory processing disorders.

 

Meet the Socially Interactive Robots

Four socially interactive robots were the focus of our research studies to identify which robot with which features was considered the most likely to be useful in intervention studies with young children with disabilities by the childrens' parents.

CLINK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO VIEW A SHORT VIDEO OF EACH ROBOT!

 

 

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cosmobot kaspar popchilla keepon


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Social Robot Research Reports

These research reports include the results from the studies completed as part of the Utility of Socially Interactive Robots Project.

  • Parents' Judgements of the Acceptability and Importance of Socially Interactive Robots for Intervening with Young Children with Disabilities. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 1. Results showed that parents judged toy-like robots (Popchilla and Keepon) as more socially valid compared to humanoid-like robots (Cosmobot and Kaspar).

  • Parents' Appraisals of the Animacy and Likeability of Socially Interactive Robots for Interacting with Young Children with Disabilities. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 2. Results showed that Popchilla was judged as having the most human-like preferrable features compared to other socially interactive robots.

  • Influences of a Socially Interactive Robot on the Affective Behavior of Young Children with Disabilities. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 3. Results showed that child-Popchilla interactions had positive affects on the social-affective behavior of young children with disabilities.

  • Effects of Child-Robot Interactions on the Vocalization Production of Young Children with Disabilties. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 4. Results showed that Popchilla had positive effects on child vocalization production for only 4 of 11 children with disabilities in two intervention studies conducted during only one intervention session.

  • Vocal Production of Young Chidlren with Disabilities During Child-Robot Interactions. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 5. Results showed that Popchilla had positive effects on child vocalization production of young children with disabilities in an intervention study conducted over multiple sessions.

  • Effects of a Socially Interactive Robot on the Conversationsal Turns Between Young Children with Disabilties and Their Parents. Social Robots Research Reports, 2013, Number 6. Results showed that Popchilla had positive effects on child-parent conversational turns in an intervention study of young children with Autism conducted over multiple sessions.


    Lathan, C., Brisben, A., & Safos, C. (2005). CosmoBot levels the playing field for disabled children. Interactions, 12(2), 14-16.

    Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C.L., Walters, M.L., Robins, B., Kose-Bagci, H., Mirza, N.A., & Blow, M. (2009). KASPAR: A minimally expressive humanoid robot for human-robot interaction research. Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, 6, 369-397.

    Interbots. (2011). Popchilla interactive robot. Pittsburg, PA: www.interbots.com.

    Kozima, H., Michalowski, M.P., & Nakagawa, C. (2009). Keepon: A playful robot for research, therapy, and entertainment. International Journal of Social Robotics, 1, 3-18.

  • The Socially Interactive Robot Project was funded by the
    U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs,
    Stepping Stones of Technology Innovations Program