Robot Assisted Diagnosis of Autism in Children

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is cumbersome even for expert clinicians owing to the diversity in the symptoms exhibited by the children which depend on the severity of the disorder. Furthermore, the diagnosis is based on the behavioural observations and the developmental history of the child which has substantial dependence on the perspectives and interpretations of the specialists. In this paper, we present a robot-assisted diagnostic system for the assessment of behavioural symptoms in children for providing a reliable diagnosis. The robotic assistant is intended to support the specialist in administering the diagnostic task, perceiving and evaluating the task outcomes as well as the behavioural cues for assessment of symptoms and diagnosing the state of the child. Despite being used widely in education and intervention for children with autism (CWA), the application of robot assistance in diagnosis is less explored. Further, there have been limited studies addressing the acceptance and effectiveness of robot-assisted interventions for CWA in the Global South. We aim to develop a robot-assisted diagnostic framework for CWA to support the experts and study the viability of such a system in the Indian context.