Robot-Assisted Training for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review, (2023), Islam A., Mehedi H. Deowan Sh. A.

(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10846-023-01872-9)

Abstract

An array of developmental disorders known collectively as autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) that can cause significant social interaction, communication, and behavioral
challenges. To remedy this autistic impact at its very early stage, researchers are
focusing their attention on robotics research with humanoid robots. It has been
claimed that under certain circumstances, children with ASD (CwASD) interact more
actively and spontaneously with robots than humans. Therefore, Human-Robot
Interaction (HRI) has become a beneficial approach in training CwASD to abate their
autism disabilities. This paper extensively reviews the prior findings on HRI for
CwASD. With some critical analysis, a couple of findings have been highlighted to
address the research gaps on the effectiveness of the intervention sessions
administered by the robots. A total of nine traits of autism, intervention sessions
administered by various tasks, different types of robots used, number of CwASD’s
along with their age, diagnosis methods applied to quantify the autism levels, and,
finally, the outcomes with identified research gaps have been analyzed. With some
comparative depictions, the reader can visualize the broad scenario and overall
research condition of robot-assisted training (RAT) for CwASD. This review
recommends employing robots in supervised applications to enhance therapeutic
effectiveness, broaden acquiescence, and inspire trust among practitioners, CwASD,
and guardians. Overall, RAT is a promising use for intelligent social robots,
especially for helping CwASD achieve therapeutic and educational goals. We expect
interdisciplinary collaboration to address its difficulties quickly.

Citation: Islam, M.A., Hasan, M.M. & Deowan, S.A. Robot-Assisted Training for
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review. J Intell Robot Syst 108, 41
(2023).