From Isolation to Communication: A Case Study Evaluation of Robot Assisted Play for Children with Autism with a Minimally Expressive Humanoid Robot

TLDR

Assistive robotics aim to support children with autism, and this study is part of the Aurora project that explores how robots can foster basic communication and social interaction skills. The study examines whether the minimally expressive humanoid robot KASPAR can act as a social mediator to encourage low‑functioning autistic children to interact, reduce isolation, and facilitate engagement with others. A case‑study evaluation of three children’s interactions with KASPAR and co‑present adults was conducted, using an abbreviated conversation‑analysis framework by a social psychologist. The analysis revealed that the robot’s embodiment and interaction dynamics enabled unexpected competencies in the children and served as a salient object that mediated and encouraged interaction with adults.

Abstract

The general context of the work presented in this paper is assistive robotics with our long-term aim to support children with autism. This paper is part of the Aurora project that studies ways in which robotic systems can encourage basic communication and social interaction skills in children with autism. This paper investigates how a small minimally expressive humanoid robot KASPAR can assume the role of a social mediator - encouraging children with low functioning autism to interact with the robot, to break their isolation and importantly, to facilitate interaction with other people. The article provides a case study evaluation of segments of trials where three children with autism, who usually do not interact with other people in their day to day activity, interacted with the robot and with co-present adults. A preliminary observational analysis was undertaken which applied, in abbreviated form, certain principles from conversation analysis - notably attention to the context in which the target behaviour occurred. The analysis was conducted by a social psychologist with expertise in using conversation analysis to understand interactions involving persons with an ASD. The analysis emphasises aspects of embodiment and interaction kinetics and revealed unexpected competencies on the part of the children. It showed how the robot served as a salient object mediating and encouraging interaction between the children and co-present adults.