Therapy Robot Teaches Social Skills to Children With Autism

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• Repetitive behaviors like hand flapping—a sign of being uncomfortable and anxious—occurred about three times as often during sessions with the human, compared with the robot, according to the study.

• hildren tend to interact more with human therapists, according to feedback the company received during its research, says Nazarikhorram.

• “The robot has the ability to create a triangular interaction between the human therapist, the robot, and the child,”

• Repetitive behaviors like hand flapping—a sign of being uncomfortable and anxious—occurred about three times as often during sessions with the human therapist, compared with the robot

• The ultimate goal is to equip children with autism “with social skills that they can apply in everyday life,” he says, and LuxAI’s research “is a good step towards that goal.”

• We asked Nazarikhorram if it’s possible that pairing robots with children with autism could actually move them further away from people, and closer to technology. “That’s one of the fears that people have,” she says. “But in practice, in our studies and based on the feedback of our users, the interaction between the children and the therapists improves.”