title: Brief Report: Development of a Robotic Intervention Platform for Young Children with ASD.
abstract: Increasingly researchers are attempting to develop robotic technologies for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This pilot study investigated the development and application of a novel robotic system capable of dynamic, adaptive, and autonomous interaction during imitation tasks with embedded real-time performance evaluation and feedback. The system was designed to incorporate both a humanoid robot and a human examiner. We compared child performance within system across these conditions in a sample of preschool children with ASD (n = 8) and a control sample of typically developing children (n = 8). The system was well-tolerated in the sample, children with ASD exhibited greater attention to the robotic system than the human administrator, and for children with ASD imitation performance appeared superior during the robotic interaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Special Education, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Pl., Nashville, TN, 37206, USA. zachary.warren@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Shuvajit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Pl., Nashville, TN, 37206, USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Pl., Nashville, TN, 37206, USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weitlauf
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Nilanjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sarkar
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004519:Education, Special / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Imitation; Robotics; Technology