An Architecture for Safe Child–Robot Interactions in Autism Interventions

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder that affects children from a very young age and is characterized by persistent deficits in social, communicational, and behavioral abilities. Since there is no cure for autism, domain experts focus on aiding these children through specific intervention plans that are aimed towards the development of the deficient areas. Using socially assistive robots that interact in a social manner with children in autism interventions, efforts are being made towards alleviating the autistic behavior of children and enhancing their social behavior. However, implementing robots in autism interventions could lead to harmful situations concerning safety. In this paper, an architecture for safe child–robot interactions in autism interventions is proposed. First, a taxonomy of child–robot interactions in autism interventions is presented, explaining its complete framework. Next, the interaction is modelled according to this taxonomy where an interaction case is employed in order for the structure of the interaction to be defined. Based on that, the safety architecture is proposed that will be integrated into the robot’s controller. Focus is placed on detecting possible distracting elements that could influence the performance of the child, affecting their psychological or physical safety. Lastly, the interaction between child and robot is created in a simulated environment through dialogue inputs and outputs, and the code of the architecture is tested, where a virtual robot performs the appropriate actions.