Abstract
Children with autism and their families could greatly benefit from increased support resources. While robots are already being introduced into autism therapy and care, we propose that these robots could better understand the child's needs and provide enriched interaction if they utilize touch. We present our plans, both completed and ongoing, for a touch-perceiving robot companion for children with autism. We established and validated touch-perception requirements for an ideal robot companion through interviews with 11 autism specialists. Currently, we are evaluating custom fabric-based tactile sensors that enable the robot to detect and identify various touch communication gestures. Finally, our robot companion will react to the child's touches through an emotion response system that will be customizable by a therapist or caretaker.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | HRI 2021 - Companion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction |
| Publisher | ACM |
| Publication date | 2021 |
| Pages | 583-585 |
| Article number | 3446352 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781450382908 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
| Event | 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States Duration: 8 Mar 2021 → 11 Mar 2021 |
Conference
| Conference | 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2021 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Virtual, Online |
| Period | 08/03/2021 → 11/03/2021 |
| Sponsor | ACM SIGAI, ACM SIGCHI, IEEE, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Owner/Author.
Keywords
- Robot-assisted therapy
- Socially assistive robotics
- Tactile sensors