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Robotic Trains as an Educational and Therapeutic Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder Intervention

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Robotics in Education (RiE 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 829))

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Abstract

Social robots are emerging to become useful assistive tools for use in the therapy and education of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The nature of ASD causes its symptoms and manifestations to vary widely, resulting in a variety of robotic form factors that have been developed for this application. These robots vary in structure, shape, size, color, and function. In this paper, we propose a train-based model to be used as an educational and rehabilitation tool. We explore the responses from children with ASD in a special needs centre toward a variety of toys (e.g. ball, cymbals, truck) and robots (i.e. humanoid and a robotic seal), including trains. Experiments were conducted to verify whether or not trains have any advantage over other form factors and to extract any features of interest to the children. Results show that trains represent an appealing platform to a wider range of children with ASD. Additionally, results showed that simple features that can be easily incorporated into trains play a significant role in the interactions and could serve as reward mechanism.

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Acknowledgments

The work is supported by a research grant from Qatar University under the grant QUST-1-CENG-2018-7. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, 2713, Qatar

    Ahmad Yaser Alhaddad & John-John Cabibihan

  2. Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Ahmad Yaser Alhaddad

  3. Biomedical Engineering Department, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 20052, USA

    Hifza Javed

  4. College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, 34110, Qatar

    Bilikis Banire & Dena Al Thani

  5. Step by Step Center for Special Needs, Doha, 47613, Qatar

    Olcay Connor

Authors
  1. Ahmad Yaser Alhaddad
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  2. Hifza Javed
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  3. Olcay Connor
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  4. Bilikis Banire
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  5. Dena Al Thani
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  6. John-John Cabibihan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John-John Cabibihan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Practical Robotics Institute Austria (PRIA), Vienna, Austria

    Wilfried Lepuschitz

  2. Practical Robotics Institute Austria (PRIA), Vienna, Austria

    Munir Merdan

  3. Practical Robotics Institute Austria (PRIA), Vienna, Austria

    Gottfried Koppensteiner

  4. Slovak University of Technology (STU), Bratislava, Slovakia

    Richard Balogh

  5. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    David Obdržálek

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Alhaddad, A.Y., Javed, H., Connor, O., Banire, B., Al Thani, D., Cabibihan, JJ. (2019). Robotic Trains as an Educational and Therapeutic Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder Intervention. In: Lepuschitz, W., Merdan, M., Koppensteiner, G., Balogh, R., Obdržálek, D. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 829. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97085-1_25

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