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

Alhaddad, Ahmad Yaser; Javed, Hifza; Connor, Olcay; Banire, Bilikis; Al-Thani, Dena; Cabibihan, John-John

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97085-1_25

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Children interacting with social robots are prone to touching the robot. In some cases, they might show aggression toward the robot [1,11,107]. This requires that the existing design guidelines must ensure the safety of the children and the physical integrity of the robot, especially during meltdowns [1,16,17].…”

Section: Robots and Potential Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some cases, they might show aggression toward the robot [1,11,107]. This requires that the existing design guidelines must ensure the safety of the children and the physical integrity of the robot, especially during meltdowns [1,16,17]. While some of the existing robots could meet many of the therapy objectives, they are still not adequate enough to be used with some of the children on the spectrum who may exhibit hyperactivity and aggression [53].…”

Section: Robots and Potential Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism

Alhaddad

Cabibihan

Bonarini

2018

Int J of Soc Robotics

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Social robots have gained a lot of attention recently as they have been reported to be effective in supporting therapeutic services for children with autism. However, children with autism may exhibit a multitude of challenging behaviors that could be harmful to themselves and to others around them. Furthermore, social robots are meant to be companions and to elicit certain social behaviors. Hence, the presence of a social robot during the occurrence of challenging behaviors might increase any potential harm. In this paper, we identified harmful scenarios that might emanate between a child and a social robot due to the manifestation of challenging behaviors. We then quantified the harm levels based on severity indices for one of the challenging behaviors (i.e. throwing of objects). Our results showed that the overall harm levels based on the selected severity indices are relatively low compared to their respective thresholds. However, our investigation of harm due to throwing of a small social robot to the head revealed that it could potentially cause tissue injuries, subconcussive or even concussive events in extreme cases. The existence of such behaviors must be accounted for and considered when developing interactive social robots to be deployed for children with autism.

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Section: Robots and Potential Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Robots and Potential Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism

Alhaddad

Cabibihan

Bonarini

2018

Int J of Soc Robotics

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show abstract

“…a social robot) that is meant to elicit behaviors could provoke some unwanted behaviors among children with autism. For example, they might show some aggression toward the robots [11][12] [13]. Kicking, throwing, hitting, and banging are some of the challenging behaviors that could potentially cause harm during the interactions with social robots (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety experiments for small robots investigating the potential of soft materials in mitigating the harm to the head due to impacts

et al. 2019

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There is a growing interest in social robots to be considered in the therapy of children with autism due to their effectiveness in improving the outcomes. However, children on the spectrum exhibit challenging behaviors that need to be considered when designing robots for them. A child could involuntarily throw a small social robot during meltdown and that could hit another person's head and cause harm (e.g. concussion). In this paper, the application of soft materials is investigated for its potential in attenuating head's linear acceleration upon impact. The thickness and storage modulus of three different soft materials were considered as the control factors while the noise factor was the impact velocity. The design of experiments was based on Taguchi method. A total of 27 experiments were conducted on a developed dummy head setup that reports the linear acceleration of the head. ANOVA tests were performed to analyze the data. The findings showed that the control factors are not statistically significant in attenuating the response. The optimal values of the control factors were identified using the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio optimization technique. Confirmation runs at the optimal parameters (i.e. thickness of 3 mm and 5 mm) showed a better response as compared to other conditions. Designers of social robots should consider the application of soft materials to their designs as it help in reducing the potential harm to the head.

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“…The introduction of robots to children with ASD represents new challenge that must be taken into account. For example, children interacting with social robots might show some aggression [8,14,25]. Furthermore, robots are meant to elicit behaviors [19,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These figures have many implications on the design of robotic toys pertaining to the safety of the head. There is a need for further safety considerations and userfocused design to take into account the characteristics of special needs users, such as children with ASD [2,8]. The work in social robots safety is still limited [22,28], especially in relation to improving design aspects of small robots [13,16,29,48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the shape and mass of a small robot when thrown to a dummy human head

et al. 2019

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Social robots have shown some efficacy in assisting children with autism and are now being considered as assistive tools for therapy. The physical proximity of a small companion social robot could become a source of harm to children with autism during aggressive physical interactions. A child exhibiting challenging behaviors could throw a small robot that could harm another child's head upon impact. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the mass and shape of objects thrown on impact at different velocities on the linear acceleration of a developed dummy head. This dummy head could be the head of another child or a caregiver in the room. A total of 27 main experiments were conducted based on Taguchi's orthogonal array design. The data were then analyzed using ANOVA and then optimized based on the signalto-noise ratio. Our results revealed that the two design factors considered (i.e. mass and shape) and the noise factor (i.e. impact velocities) affected the response. Finally, confirmation runs at the optimal identified shape and mass (i.e. mass of 0.3 kg and shape of either cube or wedge) showed an overall reduction in the resultant peak linear acceleration of the dummy head as compared to the other conditions. These results have implications on the design and manufacturing of small social robots whereby minimizing the mass of the robots can aid in mitigating the potential harm to the head due to impacts.

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

Cited by 17 publications

References 35 publications

Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism

Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism

Safety experiments for small robots investigating the potential of soft materials in mitigating the harm to the head due to impacts

Influence of the shape and mass of a small robot when thrown to a dummy human head

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