Robots for therapy

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The New York Times magazine, here (subscription required, sorry), recently ran a special article on the robots being developed at MIT. They seem to be focusing particularly on human emotion and expression, and I was wondering if anyone had started using that kind of technology to help those with Asperger's. I know there has been debate about whether or not social skills can be learned, but for borderline AS/NTs, this seems like it could be helpful.
The AuRoRa Project seems to be getting close, but I was looking more for something that directly teaches emotional expression and proper social interaction.
Does anyone know of such a thing?

I've read stuff from the autism connect newsletter
http://www.autismconnect.org/
that talks about such programs & research, using computers & robots for children w/ASD to interact with. Understand that intellectually, but personally (as a dx'd adult) it rubs me completely the wrong way-just my single opinion, it may work well for others. I don't like dealing with machines, they're even more difficult than people.
Link I provided has all sorts of updated news on the dx, running along left side of screen, then one can click on story to read it. Hope you can find something related there.

Thanks for the link--and your input. It had never occurred to me that people wouldn't like interacting with machines. I just thought it would be easier since there isn't as much to decipher.

I do enjoy reading books & articles, though-that's what I was raised on, not high-tech gizmos. Some of my frustration with machines is based on the problems they have when things don't go routinely-which seems an inevitable occurrence & I don't like being the person who can't figure out how to make the blasted thing function properly. At least, with a "real live person" I can ask "how" or "what" when I get stuck & confused by mechanical operations or unsure of interpretation & meaning of terms (esp. when an employee knows how to deal with some ghastly contraption that's utterly beyond my understanding). Apparently ASD dx is associated with being mechanically inclined or computer skilled, but I'm not...

It's not an absolute, it depends on so many variables of people involved as well as the specifics of an inanimate yet interactive object. I prefer to read about certain things rather than have a person explain-in other cases, I need active hands-on working with another person.
Sorry, it's tough being specific-but emotionally/intellectually/mentally intense information can be "over-stimulating" and I can't absorb the info. with someone else around, his/her presence distracts/detracts (what each person considers to be emotionally overwhelming is different, of course). There are also things that don't make enough sense on their own, the ideas need a person to illustrate how a concept is applied & brainstorm with me for examples. So, it depends.

AS isn't exclusive to those with talents in the sciences and maths. I think of it more as a remarkable ability to retain vast amounts of knowledge (not necessarily data), combined with social ineptitude--but I'm not a neurologist, so this is also a kind of opinion. So I think you have a good point.. the aspies who are less inclined mechanically would not respond well at all to this kind of therapy.



Don't worry about it, I do the same thing. I understand there are virtually infinite variables for this idea, and I appreciate your detailed responses.. I usually don't get that, but then, I don't know many aspies. Besides, it's such a broad-spectrum syndrome, I guess the idea of a widely-used therapy is foolish, for anything really..