Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Physical Human-Robot Interaction Influence in ASD Therapy Through an Affordable Soft Social Robot

  • Regular paper
  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the latest years, there has been a rise in social robotics’ interest as a support tool in various scopes. For instance, social robots have been used in Autism treatments, improving social skills, social interaction, and children’s daily activities performance. Although several studies elucidate the benefits of social robots in the ASD community, few focus on evaluating and promoting physical interaction. Thus, this study presents the development and assessment of a social robotic platform based on soft actuation to promote physical interaction. A total of 35 children diagnosed with autism were involved in this study. The primary outcomes show that physical interaction does not significantly influence the patient’s performance in the activity. However, the clinicians remark that encouragement and motivation increase when the children were allowed to interact with the robot physically. Also, 52.9% of the control group children elucidate the intention of physically interact with the robot, suggesting this behavior is an essential way of communication.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  1. Cabibihan, J.J., Javed, H., Ang, M., Aljunied, S.M.: Why robots? A survey on the roles and benefits of social robots in the therapy of children with autism. Int. J. Soc. Robot. 5(4), 593 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-013-0202-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Dickerson, P.: Embodiment and cognitive learning - can a humanoid robot help children with autism to learn about tactile social behaviour? 66–75 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34103-8_7

  3. Ruiz, K.G.: Identificación temprana de trastornos del espectro autista. Acta Neurológica Colombiana 32(3), 238 (2016). https://doi.org/10.22379/24224022104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Baio, J., Wiggins, L., Christensen, D.L., Maenner, M.J., Daniels, J., Warren, Z., Kurzius-Spencer, M., Zahorodny, W., Robinson, C., Rosenberg, T.W., Durkin, M.S., Imm, P., Nikolaou, L., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., Lee, L.C., Harrington, R., Lopez, M., Fitzgerald, R.T., Hewitt, A., Pettygrove, S., Constantino, J.N., Vehorn, A., Shenouda, J., Hall-Lande, J., Van, K., Braun, Naarden, Dowling, N.F.: MMWR. Surveillance Summaries 67(6), 1 (2018). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6706a1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/ss/ss6706a1.htm?s_cid=ss6706a1_w

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. W.H.O. OMS: World health organization. Autism spectrum disorders. Trastornos del espectro autista. https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders (2020)

  6. Chris Ashwin, LCSBC, Chapman, E: Impaired recognition of negative basic emotions in autism: a test of the amygdala theory. Soc. Neurosci. 1, 349 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910601040772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bio, D.C.J., Wiggind, L.: Morbidity and mostallity weekly report. Surveillance Summaries 67(6), 349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6706a1

    Google Scholar 

  8. KLUGE, M.J.A.S.V.: Searching for acceptance: Challenges encountered while raising a child with autism. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability 34, 142 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/13668250902845202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Martos-Pérez, J.: Autismo, neurodesarrollo y detección temprana. Revista de Neurología 42, 99 (2006). https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.42S02.2005781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. National Institute of Mental Health: NIMH Autism Spectrum Disorder. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd/index.shtml (2020)

  11. Williams White, S., Keonig, K., Scahill, L.: Social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorders: a review of the intervention research. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 37(10), 1858 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0320-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cifuentes, C.A., Pinto, M., Cespedes, N., Munera, M.: Social robots in therapy and care. Curr. Robot. Rep. 1, 59–74 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43154-020-00009-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kozima, H.: Children-robot interaction: a pilot study in autism therapy. Progress in brain research, 6123. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(07)64021-7 (2007)

  14. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Dickerson, P.: From isolation to communication: a case study evaluation of robot assisted play for children with autism with a minimally expressive humanoid robot. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conferences on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, ACHI 2009. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACHI.2009.32, pp 205–211 (2009)

  15. Shamsuddin, S., Yussof, H., Ismail, L.I., Mohamed, S., Hanapiah, F.A., Zahari, N.I.: Initial response in HRI- a case study on evaluation of child with autism spectrum disorders interacting with a humanoid robot NAO. Procedia Engineering 41(Iris), 1448 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2012.07.334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Costa, S., Lehmann, H., Dautenhahn, K., Robins, B., Soares, F.: Using a humanoid robot to elicit body awareness and appropriate physical interaction in children with autism. Int. J. Soc. Robot. 7(2), 265 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0250-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Yamashita, Y., Ishihara, H., Ikeda, T., Asada, M.: Investigation of causal relationship between touch sensations of robots and personality impressions by path analysis. Int. J. Soc. Robot. 11(1), 141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-018-0483-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wood, L.J., Robins, B., Lakatos, G., Syrdal, D.S., Zaraki, A., Dautenhahn, K.: Developing a protocol and experimental setup for using a humanoid robot to assist children with autism to develop visual perspective taking skills. Paladyn 10(1), 167 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2019-0013

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ferland, F.: Play, children with physical disabilities and occupational therapy: The ludic model. University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Caldwell, P.: Getting in touch : ways of working with people with severe learning disabilities and extensive support needs. Pavilion (1996)

  21. Zorcec, T., Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K.: Getting engaged: assisted play with a humanoid robot Kaspar for children with severe autism. pp 198–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00825-3_17 (2018)

  22. Lewis, P., Bernstein, P.: Theoretical approaches in dance-movement therapy, vol. 1. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Hertenstein, M.J., Verkamp, J.M., Kerestes, A.M., Holmes, R.M.: The communicative functions of touch in humans, nonhuman primates, and rats: a review and synthesis of the empirical research. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs 132(1), 5 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Davis, P.: The Power of Touch: The Basis for Survival, Health, Intimacy, and Emotional Well-Being! Hay House, Inc (1999)

  25. Stiehl, W., Lieberman, J., Breazeal, C., Basel, L., Lalla, L., Wolf, M.: Design of a therapeutic robotic companion for relational, affective touch. In: ROMAN 2005. IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2005.1513813. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1513813/, pp 408–415. IEEE (2005)

  26. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K.: Tactile interactions with a humanoid robot: novel play scenario implementations with children with autism. International Journal of Social Robotics 6(3), 397 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0228-0. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12369-014-0228-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Libin, A., Libin, E.: Person-robot interactions from the robopsychologists’ point of view: the robotic psychology and robotherapy approach. Proceedings of the IEEE 92(11), 1789 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2004.835366. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1347459/

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Randall, N., Bennett, C.C., Šabanović, S., Nagata, S., Eldridge, L., Collins, S., Piatt, J.A.: More than just friends: in-home use and design recommendations for sensing socially assistive robots (SARs) by older adults with depression. Paladyn 10(1), 237 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2019-0020

    Google Scholar 

  29. Wainer, J., Dautenhahn, K., Robins, B., Amirabdollahian, F.: Collaborating with Kaspar: using an autonomous humanoid robot to foster cooperative dyadic play among children with autism. In: 2010 10th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICHR.2010.5686346. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5686346/, pp 631–638. IEEE (2010)

  30. Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K.: Developing play scenarios for tactile interaction with a humanoid robot: a case Study exploration with children with autism. pp. 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17248-9_25 (2010)

  31. Amirabdollahian, F., Robins, B., Dautenhahn, K., Ji, Z.: Investigating tactile event recognition in child-robot interaction for use in autism therapy. In: 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, pp 5347–5351. IEEE (2011)

  32. Simut, R.E., Vanderfaeillie, J., Peca, A., Van de Perre, G., Vanderborght, B: Children with autism spectrum disorders make a fruit salad with Probo, the social robot. An interaction study. Journal of autism and developmental disorders 46(1), 113 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Iocchi, L., Jeanpierre, M.T.L, L: Personalized short-term multi-modal interaction for social robots assisting users in shopping malls. International Conference on Social Robotics 1, 264 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Argall, B.D., Billard, A.G.: A survey of tactile human-robot interactions. Robot. Auton. Syst. 58(10), 1159 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2010.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. NAO — SoftBank Robotics. NAO. https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao (2020)

  36. Idzhar, L., Thibault, I., Dambre, J, Wyffles, F.: Leveraging robotics research for children with autism: a review. International Journal of Social Robotics (2018)

  37. Richardson, K., Coeckelbergh, M., Wakunuma, K., Billing, E., Ziemke, T., Gomez, P., Vanderborght, B., Belpaeme, T.: Robot enhanced therapy for children with autism (DREAM): a social model of autism. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 37(1), 30 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2018.2795096. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8307127/

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Scassellati, B., Boccanfuso, L., Huang, C.M., Mademtzi, M., Qin, M., Salomons, N., Ventola, P., Shic, F.: Improving social skills in children with ASD using a long-term, in-home social robot. Science Robotics 3(21), eaat7544 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Simut, R., Van de Perre, G., Costescu, C., Saldien, J., Vanderfaeillie, J., David, D., Vanderborght, B.: Probogotchi: a novel edutainment device as a bridge for interaction between a child with ASD and the typically developed sibling. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies 16(1), 91–112 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Feil-Seifer, D., Matarić, M.J.: Toward socially assistive robotics for augmenting interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics 54, 201 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00196-3_24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Guha, M.L., Druin, A., Fails, J.A.: Cooperative Inquiry revisited: reflections of the past and guidelines for the future of intergenerational co-design. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction 1(1), 14 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2012.08.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Ramirez, A., Aycardi, L., Villa, A., Munera, M., Bastos, T., Belpaeme, T., Frizera, A., Cifuentes, C.A: Collaborative and inclusive process with the autism community: a case study of social robot design. Int. J. of Social Robotics (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-020-00627-y

  43. Casas, D., Gomez-Vargas, D., Pinto-Bernal, M., Maldonado, J., Munera, M., Villa-Moreno, A., Stoelen, M., Belpaeme, T., Cifuentes, C.A.: An open-source social robot based on compliant soft robotics for therapy with children with ASD. Actuators 9(3), 91 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/act9030091

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Lee, C., Kim, M., Kim, Y.J., Hong, N., Ryu, S., Kim, H.J., Kim, S.: International journal of control. Automation and Systems 15(1), 3 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Casas, J., Leal-Junior, A., Díaz, C.R., Frizera, A., Múnera, M., Cifuentes, C.A.: Large-range polymer optical-fiber strain-gauge sensor for elastic tendons in wearable assistive robots. Materials 12 (9), 1443 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Stoelen, M.F., Bonsignorio, F., Cangelosi, A.: Co-exploring actuator antagonism and bio-inspired control in a printable robot arm. pp 244–255. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43488-9_22 (2016)

  47. Petit, F., et al.: Analysis and synthesis of the bidirectional antagonistic variable stiffness mechanism. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics 20(2), 684–695 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Clayton, H.M., et al.: Kinematics and ground reaction forces in horses with superficial digital flexor tendinitis. American Journal of Veterinary Research 61(2), 191–196 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Gaitan, M., Maldonado, J., Fonseca, L., Pinto, M., Casas, D., Munera, M., Cifuentes, C.A.: Physical Human-Robot Interaction Through Hugs with CASTOR Robot. In: Proceedings 13th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2021) (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90525-5_77

  50. Hill, E.L., Frith, U.: Philosophical transactions of the royal society of london. Series B: Biological Sciences 358(1430), 281 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Costa, S., Soares, F., Santos, C., Ferreira, M.J., Moreira, F., Pereira, A.P., Cunha, F.: 2011 Ro-Man pp. 101–106 . https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2011.6005244. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-80053019031∖&partnerID=tZOtx3y1 (2011)

  52. Knapp, M.L., Hall, J.A., Horgan, T.G: Nonverbal communication in human interaction Cengage Learning (2013)

  53. Montagu, A.: Perennial Library, 98–99 (1972)

  54. Robins, B., Dickerson, P., Stribling, P., Dautenhahn, K.: Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism: a case study in robot-human interaction. Interaction studies 5(2), 161 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Srinivasan, S.M., Eigsti, I.M., Neelly, L., Bhat, A.N.: The effects of embodied rhythm and robotic interventions on the spontaneous and responsive social attention patterns of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): a pilot randomized controlled trial. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 27(2015), 54 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.01.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Ramirez, A., Bastos, T., Munera, M., Cifuentes, C.A.T., Frizera-Neto, A.: Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children with Special Needs: A Comparative Assessment for Autism Screening, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 127 (103484) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2020.103484

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Howard Gardner Clinic’s support, the Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, and the children and families who participated in the study, without whom this work would not have been possible.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Royal Academy of Engineering, CASTOR Project: CompliAnt SofT Robotics (Grant IAPP1-100126) and Minciencias Colombia (Grant 845-2020) for supported this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDLab-imec, Ghent University, 9052, Ghent, Belgium

    Maria Jose Pinto-Bernal

  2. School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Nathalia Cespedes

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota, Colombia

    Paola Castro & Marcela Munera

  4. Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Carlos A. Cifuentes

  5. School of Engineering, Science and Technology, Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia

    Carlos A. Cifuentes

Authors
  1. Maria Jose Pinto-Bernal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nathalia Cespedes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paola Castro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marcela Munera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. Carlos A. Cifuentes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors (Maria Jose Pinto-Bernal, Nathalia Cespedes, Paola Castro, Marcela Munera and Carlos A. Cifuentes) contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Maria Jose Pinto-Bernal and Nathalia Cespedes, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos A. Cifuentes.

Ethics declarations

Consent to participate

The caregivers of the children formally recruited in this study provided their signed informed consent allowing participation in the study.

Consent for Publication

The Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito ethics committee approved the protocol.

Conflict of Interests

The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Consent to participate

The caregivers of the children formally recruited in this study provided their signed informed consent allowing participation in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pinto-Bernal, M.J., Cespedes, N., Castro, P. et al. Physical Human-Robot Interaction Influence in ASD Therapy Through an Affordable Soft Social Robot. J Intell Robot Syst 105, 67 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01617-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01617-0

Keywords