The AuRoRa Project: 

Robots as Educational and Therapeutic 'toys' for Autistic Children

SUMMARY

  There are currently a number of projects attempting to understand and enhance the ability for autistic children to learn and socialise in and outside of the classroom with the use of technology, robots to be more specific. These projects have stemmed in Japan, the U.S, Canada and the U.K.
  In Hertfordshire for instance 'several robots are being used by the university in schools to explore ways of teaching profoundly autistic children social and communication skills'(Byrne 2011, Burns 2012). Kids with autism are affected usually in their development of communication and social interaction. The use of the robots therefore allows 'socialisation' to be more predictable and to an extent less frightening for the child. "The robots have no emotion, so autistic children find them less threatening than their teachers and easier to engage with"(Ian Lowe - Burns 2012)

An experts explanation on robots and their value for autistic children

  The AuRoRa Project 'studies if and how robots can become a "toy" that might serve an educational or therapeutic role for children with autism' (Aurora, 2012) . It is a project supported by the University of Hertfordshire looking at a variety of robots and methods to assist special needs children through 'Robot Assisted Play' through the facilitation of social skills in 'turn-taking and imitation, in addition to general communication and interaction skills that are required in human-human contact'.
          Under this project and others worldwide a number of studies have been conducted to study a variation of different areas in which these robots can help and if this is a significant addition(Dautenhahn & Werry, 2004, Robins et al., 2004)can assist autistic children:

          1. Robins, Dautenhahn, Dickerson and Stribling (2004) importantly highlight through their investigation 'that a robot can serve as a ‘social mediator’, an object and focus of attention and joint attention, that children with autism use to communicate with other people'(Robins et al., 2004)

          2. A more general view of 'particular challenges and issues involved in developing interactive robotic systems as therapeutic teaching devices for children with autism'. Dautenhahn and Werry (2004) 'specifically address issues relevant to the AuRoRa project, which studies the possible role of autonomous, mobile robots as therapeutic tools for children with autism' while analysing relevant theories that initially were used to inform the Aurora project, 'the context of socially intelligent agents and interactive environments'  (Dautenhahn & Werry, 2004).

 A look at Kaspar the Robot (part of the Aurora project)

THOUGHTS ON THE TOPIC

  The same as any toy? Some toys have demonstrated similar assistance for learning in autistic children but 'The robot’s autonomy, and the fact that it never reproduces exactly the same behaviour but rather variations of behaviours might have played a role in these results' (Robins et al., 2004). Additionally, the robots prove valuable in numerous studies allowing these autistic kids some form of social interaction.  

  The dangers? Perhaps we should equally be aware that these robots although helping may further isolate the autistic child, therefore robots could be used but not too heavily relied upon. Dr. Abigael San (clinical psychologist in London and spokeswoman for the British Psychological Society)"We don't want children with autism to get too used to playing with robots," she said. "Ultimately, they need to be able to relate to other people."

  All in all though the studies look positive these robots being a relatively new concept, it can be understood that more time is needed to see if they truly benefit the child, beyond just the 'toy' approach as well as their possible dangers in isolation. More independent assessments would help quantify and value the usefulness of these robots as well as possible longitudinal studies demonstrating if these changes assist the autistic child on the longterm.

REFERENCES

>AuRoRa Project: site link 2012: http://www.aurora-project.com/>Ben Robins, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Paul Dickerson and Penny Stribling (2004)“Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism: A case study in robot-human interaction”. Interaction Studies: Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems.Interaction Studies5:2, 161–198.
>Josh Wainer, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Ben Robins, Farshid Amirabdollahian (2010) Collaborating with Kaspar: Using an Autonomous Humanoid Robot to Foster Cooperative Dyadic Play among Children with Autism, Proc. 2010 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, December 6-8, 2010, Sheraton Nashville Downtown, Nashville, TN, USA, pp. 631-638
>Judith Burns(8 November 2012 Last updated at 13:33 GMT)BBC News education reporter Robots in the classroom help autistic children learn: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20252593>Kaspar (making and background) University of Hertfordshire: http://www.kaspar.herts.ac.uk/kaspar/introduction/kaspar-in-academia.htm
>Patrick Byrne (25 December 2011 Last updated at 10:00 GMT)BBC News, East of England: Robot at Hertfordshire University aids autistic children: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-16261057