Design and validation of two embodied mirroring setups for interactive games with autistic children using the NAO humanoid robot

Abstract

Socially assistive robots have shown potential benefits in therapy of child and elderly patients with social and cognitive deficits. In particular, for autistic children, humanoid robots could enhance engagement and attention, thanks to their simplified toy-like appearance and the reduced set of possible movements and expressions. The recent focus on autism-related motor impairments has increased the interest on developing new robotic tools aimed at improving not only the social capabilities but also the motor skills of autistic children. To this purpose, we have designed two embodied mirroring setups using the NAO humanoid robot. Two different tracking systems were used and compared: Inertial Measurement Units and the Microsoft Kinect, a marker-less vision based system. Both platforms were able to mirror upper limb basic movements of two healthy subjects, an adult and a child. However, despite the lower accuracy, the Kinect-based setup was chosen as the best candidate for embodied mirroring in autism treatment, thanks to the lower intrusiveness and reduced setup time. A prototype of an interactive mirroring game was developed and successfully tested with the Kinect-based platform, paving the way to the development of a versatile and powerful tool for clinical use with autistic children.

NAOMOBBY, development of a computer vision and robotics-based software tool to support rehabilitation in upper limb physical therapies

“…In addition, the mean square error for these three motions are 0.373%, 0.096%, and 1.129% respectively. These results show that the Kinect sensor was the proper option for our purposes, which also was demonstrated in [20]; then, low errors in motion tracking increase biofeedback perception on patients.…”

“…Motion tracking system is crucial for this work; this can be observed in Table 1. NAOMOBBY uses a Kinect sensor as motion tracking system since it is the suitable candidate in clinical applications with children who have physical rehabilitation therapies [20]. Other motion tracking systems such as IMU-based or multi-camera based systems have better accuracy, but they could be intrusive for some patients; since these systems need markers on the patient's body [20].…”

“…NAOMOBBY uses a Kinect sensor as motion tracking system since it is the suitable candidate in clinical applications with children who have physical rehabilitation therapies [20]. Other motion tracking systems such as IMU-based or multi-camera based systems have better accuracy, but they could be intrusive for some patients; since these systems need markers on the patient's body [20]. In addition, the Kinect sensor in comparison with these motion systems do not need a setup or calibration phase; as a result, the Kinect sensor is a better option for NAOMOBBY.…”

“…Increasing social and motor skills in autism patients is another active field of research where a motion-based rehabilitation therapy can be applied. In [18], [19] and [20] authors propose different approaches to increase children's attention, and social interaction using the NAO robot, and different experimental setups. However, these works do not mention how the therapy process is assessed, nor what kind of tools can be used for therapists to manage the rehabilitation therapy.…”

Socially Assistive Robots for Older Adults and People with Autism: An Overview

“…[ [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] Pepper Android Humanoid (height = 1.21 m and width = 0.48 m). It has almost the same articulations than a human, except for its mobile base and the impossibility of moving every finger independently.…”