Autism; Can Robots Help?

Wang, Val. “Robots To Fight Autism.” Popular Science Magazine 2009. Bonner Corporation, 10 April 2009. Web. 12 April 2010 <http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-04/robots-fight-autism>.

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Val Wang highlights recent developments in the field of interactive robots. She singles out several of the most prominent researchers in the field and describes their work. The first two researchers are Marek Micholowski, a Phd student in robotics at the Carnegie Mellon University, and Hideki Kozima of Miyagi of Japan. They are the keepers of a small yellow robot called Keepon. Keepon is one of the robots that is being used to study the social and emotional conditions of autistic children and to treat them by drawing them out socially. Because Keepon has no arms or legs and is small, it is not threatening to autistic children who are not comfortable with social interaction. Hidden cameras inside Keepon have documented the progress as autistic children gradually respond to Keepon's gentle nodding and bobbing and show amazing results. Another significant development has been made by the well-known researchers Maja Mataric and David Feil-Seifer who created a pair of robots; one that would blow bubbles randomly and one that would blow bubbles only when a child pressed a certain button. Their study showed consistently that when an autistic child could control the actions of the robot, he became more social, not only with the robot, but also with the researchers and his parents. The third research team Wang highlights is the team of Nilanjan Sarker, professor of mechanical engineering and Wendy Stone, leading autism researcher and professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University. They have developed a method using sensors of taking physiological measurements that can determine an autistic child's emotional state. The results can be used to pinpoint what triggers a child to withdraw, like eye contact, loud noises, or closeness to people. Robots can then be designed to help children build up a resistance to the triggers.

The information in the article is relevant to the question about whether using robots in therapy helps or hinders the patient's ability to relate to other human beings. It is clear from the evidence presented in the article that autistic children are helped by interaction with robots. These are children who have never shown the ability to relate socially with other people, but they begin to exhibit social behavior when they are dealing with robots. The studies with Keepon, for example, show children over a period of weeks going from not even being able to look at the robot to touching and kissing it, behavior that they have never even shown towards their parents. The results of the study with the bubble-blowing robot done by Mataric and Feil-Seifer, show improvement not only in the children's willingness to relate to the robot but also to the researchers and to their parents. The Vanderbilt professors' invention of sensors that measure an autistic child's emotional state can be very helpful in ensuring that the robots are being used appropriately with the patients. As a result of their work, robots can be programmed to gradually increase a stimulus to help build up tolerance to specific triggers and to back off when the child is becoming overwhelmed. That development will help ensure that the child is encouraged to continue to open up and not withdraw. This article is helpful in that it provides strong evidence for the idea that, at least in the cases involving autistic children, the use of robots in therapy enhances the ability of the patients' to relate to other human beings.