ABSTRACT

Using robots in therapy for children on the autism spectrum is a promising avenue for child-robot interaction, and one that has garnered significant interest from the research community. After preliminary interviews with stakeholders and evaluating music selections, twelve typically developing (TD) children and three children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) participated in an experiment where they played the dance freeze game to four songs in partnership with either a NAO robot or a human partner. Overall, there were significant differences between TD children and children with ASD (e.g., mimicry, dance quality, & game play). There were mixed results for TD children, but they tended to show greater engagement with the researcher. However, objective results for children with ASD showed greater attention and engagement while dancing with the robot. There was little difference in game performance between partners or songs for either group. However, upbeat music did encourage greater movement than calm music. Using a robot in a musical dance game for children with ASD appears to show the advantages and potential just as in previous research efforts. Implications and future research are discussed with the results.

 抽象的

使用机器人治疗自闭症谱系儿童是儿童与机器人互动的一种有前途的途径，并且引起了研究界的极大兴趣。在与利益相关者进行初步访谈并评估音乐选择后，十二名典型发育 (TD) 儿童和三名患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童参加了一项实验，他们与 NAO 机器人或人类伙伴。总体而言，TD 儿童和 ASD 儿童之间存在显着差异（例如模仿、舞蹈质量和游戏玩法）。 TD 儿童的结果好坏参半，但他们往往表现出与研究人员更多的互动。然而，客观结果表明，患有自闭症谱系障碍的儿童在与机器人跳舞时表现出更大的注意力和参与度。两组伙伴之间的游戏表现或歌曲几乎没有差异。然而，欢快的音乐确实比平静的音乐更能鼓励人们的运动。正如之前的研究工作一样，在自闭症儿童的音乐舞蹈游戏中使用机器人似乎显示出了优势和潜力。讨论了结果的意义和未来的研究。