Loading...

Modeling, Design, and the Application of Humanoid Robots in the Treatment of Children with Autism

Taheri, Alireza | 2018

760 Viewed
  1. Type of Document: Ph.D. Dissertation
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 50666 (05)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Mechanical Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Meghdari, Ali; Pouretemad, Hamid Reza; Alemi, Minoo
  7. Abstract:
  8. Statistics have shown an endemic worldwide increase of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) since the 1960s, Iran also faces the same problem. Autistic disorders are characterized by three major behavioral disorders: impaired social interaction, impaired communication, and impaired imagination and social creativity. The usage of robots in autism diagnosis and treatment has been increasing in recent years. In this study, our objective (as one of the pioneers in Iran) is to explore the clinical application of two interactive social humanoid robots (NAO and ALICE with the Iranian names of NIMA and MINA) as medical assistants in the treatment and education of children with autism in order to improve their social and cognitive skills. To reach this goal, we have designed and implemented a set of robot-assisted therapeutic games based on the regular tasks done in autism therapy centers with the following topics: a) Investigation of social robots’ acceptability and effect on improving the fine/gross movement imitation of Iranian children with autism, b) Exploring the effect of a robot-assisted music-education program on children with ASD’s fundamental knowledge of music and their socio-cognitive skills improvement (as an individual clinical intervention program), c) The impact of humanoid robots on improving the social and cognitive skills of high-functioning autistic children (as a group clinical intervention program), and d) Human-Robot interaction for autism treatment on a pair of twins with autism, one of whom was high-functioning and the other low-functioning. Finally, utilizing the ESCS test as an assessment tool and based on our robot-assisted clinical intervention sessions in this study, a virtual reality environment with virtual robots is designed for music education and therapy applications for children with autism. Evaluating the acceptability of this software on two groups of autistic and typically developing children are the final section of this dissertation. During our experimental setup, the results indicated that our social robots, NIMA and MINA, were accepted by 70 percent of the autistic participants as a communication tool from the first interaction. We also observed improvement in joint attention and fine movement imitation skills (especially during the music-education program) of both the high-functioning and low-functioning autistic subjects. It was concluded that the high-functioning children’s social skills improved due to the robot-assisted group therapy sessions, while the stereotyped behaviors of the low-functioning subjects decreased during the course of this program. Moreover, according to the content analysis of our robotic intervention videos, we observed an acceptable improvement in joint attention, eye contact with robot, and verbal communication with the significant level of 95% (p<0.05) in the participant group sessions. Our hope is this study aids in effective improvement in autism treatment as well as reduces its applicable costs in Iran
  9. Keywords:
  10. Human Robot Interaction (HRI) ; Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) ; Imitation ; Humanoid Robot ; Social Robotics ; Joint Attention ; Eye Contact

 Digital Object List

 Bookmark

  • Human–Robot Interaction in Autism Treatment: A Case Study on Three Pairs of Autistic Children as Twins, Siblings, and Classmates
    • Abstract
    • 1 Introduction
    • 2 Research Methodology
      • 2.1 Participants with Autism
      • 2.2 Setup of the Study
      • 2.3 Humanoid Social Robots
      • 2.4 Designed Games and the Therapeutic Protocol
      • 2.5 Assessment Tools
        • 2.5.1 Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS) Questionnaire
        • 2.5.2 Autism Social Skills Profile (ASSP) Questionnaire
        • 2.5.3 Quantitative Content Analysis of Intervention Video Records
        • 2.5.4 Human Assessment of Behaviors
        • 2.5.5 Interview with the Subjects' Parents
    • 3 Results and Discussions
      • 3.1 Content Analysis of Video Records
        • 3.1.1 Gaze-Shifting
        • 3.1.2 Joint Attention (JA)
        • 3.1.3 Imitation
        • 3.1.4 Maladaptive Behaviors
        • 3.1.5 Verbal Communications
      • 3.2 Questionnaires
        • 3.2.1 GARS Questionnaire
        • 3.2.2 ASSP Questionnaire
      • 3.3 Human Assessment
      • 3.4 Interview with the Parents
      • 3.5 Summary of the Results Section, Limitations, and Future Works
    • 4 Conclusion
    • Acknowledgements
    • References
  • Impact of Humanoid Social Robots on Treatment of a Pair of Iranian Autistic Twins
    • 1 Introduction
    • 2 Research Methodology
      • 2.1 Participants
      • 2.2 Intervention Sessions
      • 2.3 Set-up of the Study
      • 2.4 Humanoid Robots
      • 2.5 Therapeutic Games
      • 2.6 Assessment Tools
    • 3 Results and Discussions
      • 3.1 Quantitative Conte ent Analysis
      • 3.2 GARS
      • 3.3 Human Assessment
      • 3.4 Interview with Parents
    • 4 Conclusion
    • References
  • Social Robots and Teaching Music to Autistic Children: Myth or Reality?
    • Abstract
    • 1 Introduction
    • 2 Research Methodology
      • 2.1 Participants
      • 2.2 Humanoid Robot
      • 2.3 Musical Instruments
      • 2.4 Technical Design of the Games
      • 2.5 Experimental Setup
      • 2.6 Interventions Protocol
      • 2.7 Assessment Tools
    • 3 Results and Discussion
      • 3.1 Stambak Rhythmic Structures Reproduction Test
      • 3.2 GARS Questionnaire
      • 3.3 Limitations and Future Works
    • 4 Conclusion
    • Acknowledgement
    • References
  • “Xylotism”: A Tablet-Based Application to Teach Music to Children with Autism
    • Abstract
    • 1 Introduction
    • 2 Xylotism Application Architecture
      • 2.1 Start Page
      • 2.2 Warm up Exercises
      • 2.3 Initial Stage
      • 2.4 Virtual Simulation of Real Scenario
    • 3 Research Question
    • 4 Research Methodology
      • 4.1 Experimental Set up
      • 4.2 Participants
      • 4.3 Assessment Tools
    • 5 Results and Discussion
    • 6 Conclusion
    • Acknowledgements
    • References
  • Human–Robot Facial Expression Reciprocal Interaction Platform: Case Studies on Children with Autism
    • Abstract
    • 1 Introduction
    • 2 Related Work
      • 2.1 Facial Expression Recognition for HRI
      • 2.2 Robotic Expressive Faces in Autism Research
    • 3 Research Methodology
      • 3.1 Robotic System
      • 3.2 Non-structured Interaction Mode
        • 3.2.1 Facial Expression Recognition
        • 3.2.2 Human–Robot Emotional Interaction
      • 3.3 Structured Interaction Mode
        • 3.3.1 Participants with ASD
        • 3.3.2 Facial Expressions Imitation Actions
        • 3.3.3 Manual and Automatic Imitation Assessment
    • 4 Results and Discussion
      • 4.1 Non-structured Interaction Mode
        • 4.1.1 Feature Extraction and Emotion Recognition
        • 4.1.2 Robot's Emotional Reactions
        • 4.1.3 Neck Movements of Mina
      • 4.2 Structured Interaction Mode
        • 4.2.1 Robot's Acceptability for the Participants with ASD
        • 4.2.2 Manual Assessment of the Imitation Actions
        • 4.2.3 Automatic Assessment of the Imitation Actions
    • 5 Limitations and Future Works
    • 6 Conclusion
    • Acknowledgements
    • References
...see more