A human-like robot that helps children with autism to develop their social skills may be available for all families soon. This is after an assistive robotics and humanoid interaction expert successfully programmed a robot that shows high potential in aiding autistic children.
USA Today reports that Chung Hyuk Park, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at George Washington University, has developed a human-like robot that is programmed to help children with autism develop their social skills. The large and sophisticated robot named "Darwin-OP2" can interact with autistic children by playing soccer and performing activities with them.
Robotic System For Children With Autism
Park said that his ultimate goal of developing "Darwin-OP2" is to create a robotic system that aids the social skills development of children with autism aged five to 10 years old. The system, which is in its early stages, could help autistic children communicate more easily and feel more comfortably in their daily lives.
Park disclosed that he will be testing "Darwin-OP2" at childhood development centers, schools and other institutions dealing children with autism. If successful, he is looking forward of making this kind of robot available to the families of autistic children at an affordable rate.
Why Use Robots And Not Humans?
According to Park, research has found that children with autism interact more comfortably with robots than human playmates. This is because robots have controlled actions that made them more predictable.
Laurie Dickstein-Fischer, a professor at Massachusetts' Salem State University's School of Education who is also studying the use robots to help children with autism, echoed Park's statement. She said that the use of socially assistive robots could make autistic children be more readily engaged without getting overwhelmed.
Last year, a team of researchers at the University of Denver conducted the pilot study that investigates whether human-like robots can help in developing the social skills of children with autism. The researchers used a multifunctional humanoid robot named "NAO" that can speak, walk and dance.
Mohammad Mahoor, one of the researchers, told Forbes that robots can help children with autism because they do not possess all the features that humans have. With this, he said that autistic children can focus on "one social aspect of communication at a time."
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