Assessment of robot training for social cognitive learning

Abstract

The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is on the rise internationally. Most of these children require some degree of special education provision, whether they are educated in regular or specialized settings. Most if not all children with ASD exhibit some impairments with social communication skills. Yet, these skills are associated with outcomes in cognitive functioning and communication. One area employed is social robots to impart social skills in children with ASD. One reason for using social robots is that children with ASD tend to exhibit social behaviors such as eye contact when interacting with robots. This study seeks to examine the extent to which a small and portable robotic platform may be developed to impart social communication skills among children with ASD in specialized educational settings. This study seeks to adapt the social robot for learning social communication skills among children with ASD. In particular, the degree to which these goals can be taught, the speed of skill acquisition, and the degree of intervention will be measured. This research had contributed in three areas. Firstly, this study expounded the idea of "Model of Communication" that could be utilized for constructing social robots that correspond with people and teach social skills. Secondly we found significant improvements in turn-taking skills and more importantly, joint attention. Thirdly, we identified longer duration in eye contact engagement.