This work explores the development and usage of a social robot designed in order to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through robot's cause-effect reactions and games. Previous works showed that children with ASD express enthusiasm when interacting with robots that, if equipped with the right functionalities, help them to overcome their social, emotional, communicative, movement and cognitive difficulties. Most robots developed so far have limited functionalities, allowing to overcome only some of the cited difficulties and, moreover, some of them are very expensive, while others require continuous technical support. Our aim was to create an attractive, cheap, robust, fully integrated and easy to use mobile robot able to overcome every child's difficulty, especially the emotional one, that in a lot of robots is not considered. For this, we made Teo soft and able to react to different types of touches and to express different moods. It is possible to personalize Teo's facial expression through different patches that can be attached thanks to velcro strips, composing various moods depending on the child's reaction, sensation and feeling. In order to be easily usable, the robot has been integrated with an Android Application that presents two modalities: the Familiarization Modality and the Game modality. In the first one the interaction with the robot is completely free: the therapist can control the robot and trigger autonomous movements, robot's moods and pre-recorded phrases while the robot autonomously reacts to loud noises and different types of touches. In the second modality the robot engages the child with simple questions asking to touch the right figures. Game session's data is saved, in order to document child's possible improvements during the different sessions. Teo is operational at a care center since December 2017 where it is highly appreciated thanks to the simplicity of use and the positive results obtained in different areas, especially in the emotional one.
Questo lavoro esplora lo sviluppo e l'utilizzo di un robot sociale progettato per assistere i bambini con Disturbo dello Spettro Autistico (ASD) attraverso reazioni causa-effetto e giochi. Studi precedenti hanno mostrato che i bambini con ASD esprimono entusiasmo quando interagiscono con i robot che, se dotati delle giuste funzionalità, li aiutano a superare le loro difficoltà sociali, emotive, comunicative, di movimento e cognitive. La maggior parte dei robot sviluppati finora ha funzionalità limitate, consentendo di superare solo alcune delle difficoltà citate e, inoltre, alcuni di essi sono molto costosi, mentre altri richiedono un supporto tecnico continuo. Il nostro obiettivo era quello di creare un robot mobile attraente, economico, robusto, completamente integrato, facile da usare e in grado di aiutare i bambini a superare ogni difficoltà, in particolare quella emotiva, che in molti robot non è considerata. Per questo, abbiamo reso Teo morbido e in grado di reagire a diversi tipi di tocchi e di esprimere diversi stati d'animo. È possibile personalizzare l'espressione del viso di Teo attraverso diverse patch che possono essere attaccate grazie a strisce di velcro, componendo vari stati d'animo a seconda della reazione e della sensazione dei singoli bambini. Per essere facilmente utilizzabile, il robot è stato integrato con un'applicazione Android che presenta due modalità: la Modalità di Familiarizzazione e la Modalità Gioco. Nella prima, l'interazione con il robot è completamente libera: il terapeuta può controllare il robot e attivare movimenti autonomi, stati d'animo e frasi preregistrate, mentre il robot reagisce autonomamente a rumori forti e tipi diversi di tocchi. Nella seconda modalità il robot coinvolge i bambini con domande semplici che chiedono di toccare le figure giuste. I dati della sessione di gioco vengono salvati al fine di documentare i possibili miglioramenti del bambino durante le diverse sessioni. Teo è operativo presso un centro di assistenza da dicembre 2017, dove è molto apprezzato, grazie alla semplicità d'uso e ai risultati positivi ottenuti in diverse aree, soprattutto in quella emotiva.
Teo : a mobile robot as support for the treatment of children affected by autistic spectrum disorder
LUCCHELLI, MATTEO
2016/2017
Abstract
This work explores the development and usage of a social robot designed in order to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through robot's cause-effect reactions and games. Previous works showed that children with ASD express enthusiasm when interacting with robots that, if equipped with the right functionalities, help them to overcome their social, emotional, communicative, movement and cognitive difficulties. Most robots developed so far have limited functionalities, allowing to overcome only some of the cited difficulties and, moreover, some of them are very expensive, while others require continuous technical support. Our aim was to create an attractive, cheap, robust, fully integrated and easy to use mobile robot able to overcome every child's difficulty, especially the emotional one, that in a lot of robots is not considered. For this, we made Teo soft and able to react to different types of touches and to express different moods. It is possible to personalize Teo's facial expression through different patches that can be attached thanks to velcro strips, composing various moods depending on the child's reaction, sensation and feeling. In order to be easily usable, the robot has been integrated with an Android Application that presents two modalities: the Familiarization Modality and the Game modality. In the first one the interaction with the robot is completely free: the therapist can control the robot and trigger autonomous movements, robot's moods and pre-recorded phrases while the robot autonomously reacts to loud noises and different types of touches. In the second modality the robot engages the child with simple questions asking to touch the right figures. Game session's data is saved, in order to document child's possible improvements during the different sessions. Teo is operational at a care center since December 2017 where it is highly appreciated thanks to the simplicity of use and the positive results obtained in different areas, especially in the emotional one.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2018_04_Lucchelli.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/140166