Attention shifting during child–robot interaction: a preliminary clinical study for children with autism spectrum disorder

Guo-bin WAN; Fu-hao DENG; Zi-jian JIANG; Sheng-zhao LIN; Cheng-lian ZHAO; Bo-xun LIU; Gong CHEN; Shen-hong CHEN; Xiao-hong CAI; Hao-bo WANG; Li-ping LI; Ting YAN; Jia-ming ZHANG

doi:10.1631/FITEE.1800555

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Attention shifting during child–robot interaction: a preliminary clinical study for children with autism spectrum disorder

Special Feature on Intelligent Robots | Updated：2022-05-19

- Attention shifting during child–robot interaction: a preliminary clinical study for children with autism spectrum disorder
- 儿童与机器人交互过程中的注意力转移：对孤独症谱系障碍儿童的初步临床研究
- Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering Vol. 20, Issue 3, Pages: 374-387(2019)
- Affiliations：
  
  Shenzhen Maternal & Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen 518000, China
  Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518172, China
  School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
  Institute of Information Engineering & Technology, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
  School of Information and Control Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
  School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
  Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- Author bio：
  
  Jia-ming ZHANG, E-mail: zhangjiaming@cuhk.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1631/FITEE.1800555
  CLC： TP242.6;R748
- Received：11 September 2018，
  
  Revised：2019-;3-14，
  
  Published：2019-03
- Accepted：
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Guo-bin WAN, Fu-hao DENG, Zi-jian JIANG, et al. Attention shifting during child–robot interaction: a preliminary clinical study for children with autism spectrum disorder[J]. Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, 2019, 20(3): 374-387.
DOI：

Guo-bin WAN, Fu-hao DENG, Zi-jian JIANG, et al. Attention shifting during child–robot interaction: a preliminary clinical study for children with autism spectrum disorder[J]. Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, 2019, 20(3): 374-387. DOI： 10.1631/FITEE.1800555.

摘要

在孤独症谱系障碍（autism spectrum disorder，ASD）治疗和康复中，越来越需要引入社会交互式机器人作为辅助手段，以提升康复训练有效性和治疗多样性，缓解中国大陆和世界其它地方医疗人员短缺。为开展本次初步临床研究，在中国深圳4个不同康复设施/机构，对3个不同外观和功能的社会交互式机器人进行类似孤独症康复疗程的测试。包括52名孤独症儿童在内的74名参与者接受同时有3个不同机器人干预的测试，每位参与者与机器人交互过程由3台不同摄像机记录。统计数据源于收集的录像和大部分由参与者父母填写的问卷。初步临床研究有助于物理机器人设计和治疗环境下机器人评估。首先，设计物理机器人应优先考虑外观和功能。其次，采用类似视频中儿童注视方向和头部姿势分析注意力，定量测量儿童亲社会行为和动作（如注意力从一个特定机器人转移到其他机器人）。再次，观察计算视频剪辑中儿童与机器人探索/玩耍的时间频率，定性分析这些行为和动作。最后列举了本研究的局限性。

Abstract

There is an increasing need to introduce socially interactive robots as a means of assistance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatment and rehabilitation

to improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation training and the diversification of treatment

and to alleviate the shortage of medical personnel in mainland China and other places in the world. In this preliminary clinical study

three different socially interactive robots with different appearances and functionalities were tested in therapy-like settings in four different rehabilitation facilities/institutions in Shenzhen

China. Seventy-four participants

including 52 children with ASD

whose processes of interacting with robots were recorded by three different cameras

all received a single-session three-robot intervention. Data were collected from not only the videos recorded

but also the questionnaires filled mostly by parents of the participants. Some insights from the preliminary results were obtained. These can contribute to the research on physical robot design and evaluations on robots in therapy-like settings. First

when doing physical robot design

some preferential focus should be on aspects of appearances and functionalities. Second

attention analysis using algorithms such as estimation of the directions of gaze and head posture of a child in the video clips can be adopted to quantitatively measure the prosocial behaviors and actions (e.g.

attention shifting from one particular robot to other robots) of the children. Third

observing and calculating the frequency of the time children spend on exploring/playing with the robots in the video clips can be adopted to qualitatively analyze such behaviors and actions. Limitations of the present study are also presented.

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references

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