A Hybrid Robotics System for Children with Autism: A longitudinal Study of Social Interaction inside the Classroom

In our longitudinal (20 weeks) and empirical study (i.e., conducted in natural settings inside a specific classroom with 9 children with ASD), we used a hybrid robotics system (i.e. Cozmo©) to investigate the evolution of the behaviors and gestures of the children in this sample when performing specific activities with this robot, in order to test if a hybrid system can support behaviors related to joint attention and social exchanges. Our study is based on observations of collaborative activities performed by children with ASD with/against the Cozmo© robot during educational settings in ecological contexts. Analyses showed that children point less and less frequently toward the hybrid robotics system, touch the robot less and less frequently while three behaviors and gestures increase significantly through the interactions with the robot and through the weeks: children touch the cubes more and more frequently, they point more and more frequently toward peers and joint attention is more and more frequent. In other words, because these three behaviors are directly related to social exchanges and communication, our results tend to demonstrate that joint attention and the interest of children are more and more focused on the other children (i.e. peers) and the activities performed together by using a hybrid robotics system.