Branching off from more physical forms of disability, I decided to consider what has been done to improve and help those with mental, learning and developmental disabilities. I came across a video explaining the relatively new way of teaching children with autism social behaviours, Robots4Autism.
Milo is the humanoid robot that engages with children to deliver research based lessons, this can be used by parents, teachers and therapists. The lessons can help children understand emotions and the meaning behind them as well as different expressions, it then demonstrates appropriate responses and behaviour. Many children with autism feel uncomfortable talking with or even looking at human therapists, but research has found that they engage with Milo much easier. The robots have seen improvements in eye contact, self-motivation, body language and more.
Milo is partially plastic and has been designed with a humanoid face, which is still relatively cartoon like to engage younger children, and is built with a full range of facial muscles to allow the robots to show human emotions and expressions. The robots also move, listen and talk as naturally as possible, the speech has been made to be slower than normal to make them easier to understand.
The technology behind Milo includes a HD camera that allows the robot to pick up on faces and facial expressions, movement, objects, and gestures. There is an internal computer that runs all movement, intelligence and the teaching programs. The built in sensors allow it to detect faces, motion and touch; these are paired with microphones that listen, speak and record. There is advanced artificial intelligence behind the robots, called CompuCompassion by the company, that allows them to analyse the interactions with the children and make teaching decisions based on this.
These robots are two feet tall and designed around the strengths of children with autism, with many excelling in technology. They are accompanied by a tablet on which the children can use the robot interface and watch videos of real life social situations. The parents are given a DVD which explains how to view recordings and monitor the progress data recorded by the robot. This highly advanced technology and design has proven to be much more effective than humans when it comes to helping children with autism and could lead to less problems in later life for the users.
Image credits: http://www.robokindrobots.com/robots/ * http://www.robokindrobots.com/robots-4-autism/
