Robot-mediated therapy: Emotion Recognition and Social Skills Trainingfor children with ASD. Analysis of the use of Zoomorphic Robot Brian - preliminary reports

Abstract

Introduction: The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the zoomorphic robot Brian in the therapy of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to standard therapist-led interventions. The assessment focused on the child's level of interest in the robot, willingness to respond to verbal commands given by the robot, adaptive behaviors, social communication, imitation during play, and recognition of emotional states presented by the robot. Materials and methods: The study included fourteen children, with a total of 116 therapy sessions conducted. Each child participated in four sessions with the zoomorphic robot and four sessions with a therapist. During the sessions, the children's responses to verbal commands, ability to recognize emotions, and skills in social communication and imitation were evaluated. Results: The study showed a significantly greater willingness of autistic children to respond to verbal commands given by the robot than to the same commands spoken by the therapist. Additionally, children with ASD demonstrated better recognition and naming of emotional states displayed on the robot’s face compared to those on a human face. Conclusions: In interaction with the robot, autistic children acquired and exhibited desired social communication and imitation behaviors more quickly than in traditional therapy conducted by a therapist. These results suggest that robots may serve as an effective tool to support the therapy of children with ASD. Keywords: robot-assisted therapy, human-robot interaction, social robots, autism spectrum disorder