Experts at Vanderbilt University developed a system to coordinate with a French-built Robot companion, NAO. Children with Autism may find it difficult to relate to other people and this robot helps children learn “joint attention,” a skill that is typically learned naturally. Joint attention is the ability to focus on a certain object or person in a social setting. Without joint attention, it could make classroom learning challenging.
The robot acts as a system to help children focus on specific objects or other people. It tracks the child’s head movements to determine what the child is focused. If the child is not focused on the proper object or person, the robot will redirect the child’s attention with phrases like “Look over here.” The system uses cameras, sensors and computers to work with the friendly robot and track a child’s movements. This system is call ARIA, which stands for Adaptive Robot-Mediated Intervention Architecture.
Research shows that children engage more with the robot compared to its human therapist because it’s less intimidating. That causes less anxiety for the child, says Nilanjan Sarkar, a Vanderbilt professor of mechanical engineering.
“Children experience anxiety dealing with people because they think they have to live up to expectations,” Sarkar told Mashable. “Here, they know the robot doesn’t expect anything and so they’re not intimated by demands, whereas a human therapist may get annoyed or impatient.”
