How to Build a Supervised Autonomous System for Robot-Enhanced Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Author(s)

Pablo G. Esteban, Paul Baxter, Tony Belpaeme, Erik Billing, Haibin Cai, Hoang-Long Cao, Mark Coeckelbergh, Cristina Costescu, Daniel David, Albert De Beir, Yinfeng Fang, Zhaojie Ju, James Kennedy, Honghai Liu, Alexandre Mazel, Amit Pandey, Kathleen Richardson, Emmanuel Senft, Serge Thill, Greet Van de Perre, Bram Vanderborght, David Vernon, Hui Yu, Tom Ziemke

Abstract

Robot-Assisted Therapy (RAT) has successfully been used to improve social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through remote control of the robot in so-calledWizard of Oz (WoZ) paradigms.However, there is a need to increase the autonomy of the robot
both to lighten the burden on human therapists (who have to remain in control and, importantly, supervise the robot) and to provide a consistent therapeutic experience. This paper seeks to provide insight into increasing the autonomy level of social robots in therapy to move beyond WoZ. With the final aim of improved human-human social interaction for the children, this multidisciplinary research seeks to facilitate the use of social robots as tools in clinical situations by addressing the challenge of increasing robot autonomy. We introduce the clinical framework in which the developments are tested, alongside initial data obtained from patients in a first phase of the project using a WoZ set-up mimicking the targeted supervised-autonomy behaviour. We further describe the implemented system architecture capable of providing the robot with supervised autonomy.

Organisation(s)

Department of Philosophy

External organisation(s)

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Plymouth University , University of Skövde, University of Portsmouth, De Montfort University, Softbank Robotics Europe, Babeș-Bolyai University

Journal

Paladyn : Journal of Behavioral Robotics

Volume

8

Pages

18-38

No. of pages

21

ISSN

2080-9778

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2017-0002

Publication date

2017

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

603122 Philosophy of technology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Human-Computer Interaction, Behavioral Neuroscience

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/85e9efac-c8db-4260-b0f1-84ed1d53720a