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The Socially Assistive Robot Daisy Promoting Social Inclusion of Children with ASD

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Education in & with Robotics to Foster 21st-Century Skills (EDUROBOTICS 2021)

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 982))

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Abstract

Children in the autism spectrum face deficits in communication’s social skills, which makes their inclusion difficult to obtain. Socially Assistive Robots, according to recent researches, have proven to be capable tools of assisting children with ASD to socialize and motivate them to participate in group activities. The research of this study explores whether Daisy Robot, a socially assistive robot, can motivate children with ASD to verbally communicate with peers of typical development by developing verbal communication skills, to that extent that those skills are generalized after the interventions while interacting with different children of typical development. Six children with ASD were observed previously, during, and after an intervention with the Daisy robot. All six managed to develop and maintain their verbal communication skills towards their social inclusion.

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Acknowledgments

This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014–2020» in the context of the project “Mapping the characteristics of socially assistive robots with the aim of enhanced cognitive functions and intimacy in humans. “MIS 5047258”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, GR, Greece

    Sofia Pliasa, Anna-Maria Velentza & Nikolaos Fachantidis

  2. Laboratory of Informatics and Robotic Applications in Education and Society, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, GR, Greece

    Sofia Pliasa, Anna-Maria Velentza & Nikolaos Fachantidis

Authors
  1. Sofia Pliasa
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  2. Anna-Maria Velentza
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  3. Nikolaos Fachantidis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikolaos Fachantidis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Monica Malvezzi

  2. European Lab for Educational Technology, Edumotiva, Sparta, Greece

    Dimitris Alimisis

  3. Department of Information Engineering, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Michele Moro

Appendix

Appendix

Example of Step 2 Dialogues between the child in the autism spectrum (E2), child in typical development (T5) and Daisy robot.

E2 and T5 enter the room and sit at the chairs in front of Daisy. E2 shows no hesitation at all and is laughing.

Daisy::

Hello E2 (name of the child).

E2::

Hello.

Daisy::

Is this your friend?

E2::

Friend T5 (name of the child of TD)

Daisy::

Hello T5, I am Daisy. How are you?

T5::

Hi Daisy, nice to meet you, I am doing good.

Daisy::

E2 can you ask your friend what is her favorite color?

E2 (continues to look at Daisy and repeats)::

What is her favorite color?

Daisy::

E2 look at your friend

E2 looks at her

Daisy::

ok, now ask your friend “What is your favorite color?’’

E2::

What is your favorite color?

T5::

I think orange is my favorite color

Daisy::

Nice color, I love orange. E2 can you please remind me what is your favorite color?

E2::

Red

Daisy::

I love red too. What is your dad’s name?

E2::

Dad name Tom

Daisy::

ask your friend what her favorite food is.

E2 looks at T5 and repeats: what is her favorite food?

Daisy::

E2 ask her “What is your favorite food?”

E2 (repeating Daisy’s questions): What is your favorite food?

T2::

I love eating fish.

Daisy::

E2 do you like eating fish?

E2::

Fish. (E2 moves his head left to right like saying no.)

Daisy continues with some more questions and then says::

Let’s play a game, do you want to play a game?

T5::

I’d love to

E2 doesn’t respond but grabs the tablet and looks at it.

Daisy repeats the instructions::

T5 and E2, here is a flower, you need to drag one petal at a time, first E2 and then T5.

E2 starts and then waits for his friend; T5 drags a petal and then E2 starts dragging two petals. Daisy corrects him

Daisy::

E2 you drag only one petal, then your friend.

E2 obliges. E2 is excited and they repeat the game two more times.

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Pliasa, S., Velentza, AM., Fachantidis, N. (2021). The Socially Assistive Robot Daisy Promoting Social Inclusion of Children with ASD. In: Malvezzi, M., Alimisis, D., Moro, M. (eds) Education in & with Robotics to Foster 21st-Century Skills. EDUROBOTICS 2021. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 982. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77022-8_8

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