Autism therapy robots

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07 Jun 2010, 12:04 pm

Was going to post this a few days ago, but it slipped my mind.

Read about this in Popular Science magazine and thought it was really cool:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... therapists

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Mudboy
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07 Jun 2010, 1:28 pm

Quote:

. Among children, the prevalence statistics have jumped from one in every 150 a few years ago to one in 110 kids today.

Really?

Quote:

You can pretty much guess what a computer is going to do next about 90 percent of the time, but human interactions obey very few entirely predictable laws. And this, Baron-Cohen explains, is difficult for children with autism. “They find unlawful situations toxic,” he says. “They can’t cope. So they turn away from people and turn to the world of objects.”

Quote:

Yet autism is treatable, and with therapy, children can acquire basic social skills, a degree of independence and, in some cases, self-sufficiency as adults.

I think this is true for adults too. I also find "toxic situations" in many other things such as smells, touch and sound. They make it sound like a shortage of social abilities is the only problem autism causes.

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buryuntime
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07 Jun 2010, 2:21 pm

This is just creepy.

Kiley
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07 Jun 2010, 3:25 pm

Well I know what Eldest son is going to be begging for once his PopSci hits the mailbox, sigh.

I'm surprised he hasn't already turned his NXT into one like that...no doubt that'll happen momentarily. There isn't too much he hasn't made that thing do.

PunkyKat
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07 Jun 2010, 11:56 pm

That robot wouldn't have done anything for me at all unless the therapists were trying to induce a heart attack. Reading the article sends chills down my spine. If that thing came at me I would faint. If anything it would make me even more distrustful of people. The one thing that helped me overcome social paranoia was taking my bearded dragon into public with me. An autism service dog would do a better job in my opinion than a creepy robot. Now I am hyperventaliting after seeing that thing.

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Mudboy
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08 Jun 2010, 12:22 am

PunkyKat wrote:

An autism service dog would do a better job in my opinion than a creepy robot.

I agree. Autism service dogs can help deal with the world instead of being another weird thing to have to cope with. Animal emotions and reactions are predictable and understandable most of time, and they have the ability to gain the trust of an autistic person. This trust can help with the other types of "toxic situations" besides just the social ones. I think interaction with animals is a much better treatment than robots ever would be.

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zen_mistress
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08 Jun 2010, 1:14 am

I think it would be a great idea if it was lke R2D2 or Wall-E, and spoke like a robot. Autistic kids would love it! NT kids would probably want to play with it too. but that robot looks rather weird.... especially the strange rubbery lips and the eyes that look like chilling Rollos.

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08 Jun 2010, 1:17 pm

Quote:

Perfecting a robot that bridges the gap will call for advances in almost every facet of modern robotics: artificial intelligence, machine vision, mechanical and electrical design, signal processing.

Damnit, damnit, damnit!! ! I was right in the process of doing all this myself!

Quote:

The group is also working with signal-processing experts at USC to develop technology that would interpret facial expressions, gestures or changes in tone, allowing a robot to determine on its own whether the child is happy, upset or frustrated.

Ugh... I've already modeled this. All that work is now pointless.

Oh well, time to figure out what I'm going to do with my life again. (I can only hope that they publish their findings with the software algorithms.)

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Kiley
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08 Jun 2010, 1:19 pm

AdmiralCrunch wrote:

Quote:

Perfecting a robot that bridges the gap will call for advances in almost every facet of modern robotics: artificial intelligence, machine vision, mechanical and electrical design, signal processing.

Damnit, damnit, damnit!! ! I was right in the process of doing all this myself!

Quote:

If my son ever comes out of his mood cycling the two of you can get together and revamp the whole process doing it way better than they did.

liloleme
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08 Jun 2010, 1:24 pm

I can see a lot of kids responding better to a robot than a person. I certainly would feel more comfortable, but then again I know those eyes are cameras with people on the other end, and that would freak me out.

SabbraCadabra
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08 Jun 2010, 1:31 pm

PunkyKat wrote:

That robot wouldn't have done anything for me at all unless the therapists were trying to induce a heart attack.

Yeah, it said that some kids didn't like the robot at all.

I still think it's an interesting idea, and I'm glad they didn't try to make it look like a person, because that would just creep the heck out of me

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AdmiralCrunch
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08 Jun 2010, 4:09 pm

Kiley wrote:

If my son ever comes out of his mood cycling the two of you can get together and revamp the whole process doing it way better than they did.

I hope you and your son will find the help that he needs. (The world can always use more imaginative roboticists.)

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CockneyRebel
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08 Jun 2010, 4:23 pm

I think that looks creepy.

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