Brief Report: A Novel System to Evaluate Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Two Humanoid Robots

Area of Science:

• Robotics in developmental psychology
• Clinical assessment tools for autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
• Human-robot interaction for behavioral evaluation

Background:

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis relies on assessing social communication deficits.
• Current diagnostic tools, like the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule (ADOS), use human interaction.
• Developing objective and consistent evaluation methods for ASD is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of a novel robotic system for evaluating social communication in children with ASD.
• To compare social communication scores obtained via a robotic system with those from a gold-standard clinician-led assessment (ADOS).
• To explore the potential of robot-mediated interaction as an alternative or supplementary tool for ASD assessment.

Main Methods:

• An experimental setting was created using two humanoid robots, mimicking the ADOS "birthday party" scenario.
• Children with ASD participated in both the standard ADOS condition with a human clinician and a robotic condition.
• Social communication abilities were assessed and scored in both conditions.

Main Results:

• Significant positive correlations were found between social communication scores obtained in the ADOS condition and the robotic condition for children with ASD.
• The robotic evaluation system demonstrated feasibility and reliability in assessing autistic traits.
• This indicates that robot-mediated interaction can yield comparable results to traditional methods.

Conclusions:

• The novel robotic system, utilizing two-robot mediated interaction, is a feasible tool for evaluating social communication in children with ASD.
• This approach offers a unique and potentially valuable method for assessing the severity of autistic traits.
• Robot-assisted evaluations may enhance the consistency and accessibility of ASD assessments.