Robot Friends for Autistic Kids
From: Australian IT - 12/13/2005
By: Barbara Gengler

Yale University computer science researcher Brian Scassellati believes a
robot that has the ability to interact more naturally could serve as a friend
for autistic children. Scassellati has been building a humanoid robot that is
able to mirror the size, speed, and range of motion of a one-year-old child
who suffers from autism. Although the condition compromises the way in which
the child communicates and relates to others, the interactive diagnostic
robot would pick up behavioral skills from humans and respond with gestures
and utterances in social situations. "In the past three years we have
designed and constructed the majority of the mechanical structure of the
upper torso including the head, torso and arms," says Scassellati. Thus far,
the social robot is able to perform basic hand-eye coordination tasks such as
reaching out to touch an object, perceptual tasks including visually
identifying people, and cognitive tasks such as recognizing itself in a
mirror. Nonetheless, technical challenges remain in getting the robot to
understand a person's tone of voice and pointing gestures. 

Read the entire article at:
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,17519713%5E24170%5E%5Enbv%5E24169,00.html

Links:
Brian Scassellati
http://www.cs.yale.edu/people/scassellati.html
http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/scaz/

Social robots as diagnostic and therapeutic devices for children with autism
http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/scaz/research.html

Humanoid Robotics Group Publications
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group/publications.html

Learning about the Self and Others Through Contingency
http://gundam.cs.yale.edu/KGoldDevRob05.pdf

Advances in robotics may help treat autism
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051129/HEALTH/511290305/-1/NEWS01

Social robots could help diagnose and treat autistic children
http://breakingnewsblog.com/robotics/archives/social_robots_could_help_diagnose_and_treat_autistic_children/

Nico, The Social Robot Helps Diagnose Autism
http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/Nico.asp?whichpage=7&pagesize=5&sqlQuery=SELECT+%2A+from+items+WHERE+itm%5Fcategory%3D1+order+by+itm%5Ftitle

