Bridging the Gap: the Role of Socially Assistive Robots in Education for Children with Autism by Irena

Bridging the Gap: the Role of Socially Assistive Robots in Education for Children with Autism by Irena - February 2018 Scholarship Essay

Today, technology already has a ubiquitous presence in the classroom. From smartboards to iPads, students are more connected to digital teaching tools than ever before. But what about children with autism, whose struggles with social interactions lead to interpersonal challenges in educational environments? Researchers are already designing new technology to help facilitate their learning. Robots programmed with machine learning algorithms can adapt their own behavior to help guide children with autism toward long-term learning goals over time. I believe that in the year 2038, socially assistive robots will have become an integral part of education for autistic children.
For students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, robots can help bridge the gap between their inner worlds and the social environment. One of the advantages of using robots as a learning tool for children with autism is that they are social agents, but not overwhelmingly so. Interacting with a robot is not the same as having a conversation with another human being that has highly nuanced facial expressions and infinite possible responses to a stimulus. In fact, a robot known as Ellie, designed by Brian Scassellati of Yale University, makes the same social mistakes as children with autism do. The child’s job is to correct the robot, allowing the child to demonstrate his or her mastery of different social cues. Similarly, Professor Maja Pantic of Imperial College London has created Zeno, a robot that helps autistic children recognize and replicate varied facial expressions. Robots can be used to help children with autism navigate social interactions.
Perhaps most notably, robots can help forge greater connections between children with autism and other people. In Kim et al.’s 2012 study, autistic children interacted with a socially expressive dinosaur robot called Pleo while an interviewer sat at the same table and observed. In contrast to conditions where the child was playing a game on a tablet or talking exclusively to the interviewer, Pleo’s presence led children to encourage the robot when it expressed nervousness about completing a task. These children also made more eye contact with the interviewer and asked questions about the robot. The presence of socially assistive robots in educational environments can facilitate higher motivation, sustained interest, and even novel social behavior for children with autism. By the year 2038, I predict that they will have found a place in the educational environment, alongside students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.