Robots Helping Humans
From vacuuming floors in homes to serving food in restaurants, robots have become suffused into our daily lives. Now, robots have a new function in our healthcare system, as behavioral therapists for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The most widely researched robot in the ASD field, NAO, boasts many features with its plastic, 58-cm-tall frame. NAO can be programmed to move its arms, legs, and torso, as well as speak to mimic simplified human interactions.
In a 2022 study in Frontiers in Robotics and AI, Huanghao Feng, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Changshu Institute of Technology, along with Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mohammad H. Mahoor and Research Assistant Francesca Dino at the University of Denver, programmed NAO to independently play the xylophone. Their implementation of NAO in music therapy is the first of its kind.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), children with ASD express difficulties with social interaction along with limited repetitive behaviors. Feng and colleagues intended for the xylophone-playing NAO to help children with ASD practice their motor and turn taking skills. These skills assist children with engaging in physical human interaction as well as recognition of social cues.
In the therapy sessions, NAO first demonstrated the sequence of xylophone keys to hit. Then, it verbally instructs the child to play, and finally provides feedback on the child's performance. Feng's team found that most of the children who underwent the music therapy were able to copy NAO's xylophone key sequence with 70% accuracy. Six out of the nine participants also exhibited turn taking behavior. In the final sessions, most children exhibited more focus when learning their favorite songs even though the sequences were more difficult.
The findings from the 2022 study show the capability of children with ASD to practice motor and turn-taking skills without needing a human therapist to act as a mediator for facilitating these actions. The expressed motivation of the children wanting to learn difficult songs during the music therapy sessions leads researchers to conclude that developing a desire to acquire motor and turn-taking skills translates to these children's increased motivation to engage in social interactions with peers. NAO provides children with ASD with a stepping stone towards this social behavior.
Daniela Conti, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Catania, states that "[the] aim of using robots in clinical practice is to reduce therapists' workload by allowing the robot to take care of some parts of the intervention," instead of acting as "a replacement of the human caregiver."
NAO in ASD therapies has gained the interests of many researchers recently as an important tool to aid patients and ASD professionals.
About the Author: Stephanie Vu
Stephanie Vu is a third year Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major, pursuing a minor in Human Development. Reflecting on the experience of growing up with her two brothers with severe autism, she was inspired to research novel autism spectrum disorder (ASD) interventions. Upon reading many research articles and narrowing down her topic, Stephanie found that many researchers today focus on the NAO robot to implement interventions that supplement human therapy techniques for children with ASD. Though the NAO robot is a niche treatment for an increasingly prevalent disorder, Stephanie hopes to bring more awareness to ASD as a whole, as well as inspire more innovation for its treatments.
Author's Note
Wrote for NYT article assignment for UWP 102B, Fall Quarter 2023; recommended from professor to submit to Aggie Transcript This is a very shortened/casual version of the full lit review. Main takeaways:
NAO robot can be programmed to autonomously conduct music therapy for children with ASD to improve motor/learning skills
Current NAO research mainly focus on the NAO working with, instead of fully replacing human therapists
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2022. Signs and Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.html.
Conti D, Trubia G, Buono S, Di Nuovo S, Di Nuovo A. 2021. An empirical study on integrating a small humanoid robot to support the therapy of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. Interaction Studies. 22(2):177–211. doi:https://doi.org/10.1075/is.21011.con.
Feng H, Mahoor MH, Dino F. 2022. A Music-Therapy Robotic Platform for Children With Autism: A Pilot Study. Frontiers in Robotics and AI. 9. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2022.855819.