Popular interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) target behavioral, educational, and socio-relational improvement. To reduce the workload of human therapists, robots have been used in recent years to record behaviors, engage children, and adapt levels of treatment. This review analyzes studies done on the interaction of NAO, the most popular robot in ASD interventions due to its humanoid shape and high capabilities in verbal and non-verbal communication, with human therapists, parents, and children to improve joint attention, motor skills, and prosocial behaviors of children with ASD.
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).