UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM presents "The Aurora Project - How Autistic Children Relate to a Robot" speaker: Iain Werry Adaptive Systems Research Group Computer Science Deparmtent University of Hertfordshire 16 October 2002 (Wednesday) Lecture Theatre E351 Hatfield Campus 3 - 4 pm Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available. Everyone is Welcome to Attend [Space Permitting] Abstract: The session will revolve around the Aurora project (AUtonomous mobile RObot as a Remedial tool for Autistic children). This project was initiated to investigate how technology can play a part in the understanding, investigation and therapy of people suffering from autism, in particular children. My involvement in the project is concerned with the development of a robotic platform to act as an additional tool for the teachers of children with autism, in the area of social skills, interaction and communication. Autism is a spectrum disorder which affects the suffers in a number of ways. One of the more common effects of the disorder is an inhibited ability in social interaction. Autistic children often appear to prefer the more passive interaction of simple toys and devices over the complex and unpredictable interaction of other people. However, this avoidance can lead to further communication problems. The project builds on this preference for interaction with a device, and aims to use it to provide a bridge to normal interaction with other people. The goal of the robotic platform is to encourage and promote interaction in the children, in an environment in which they are able to explore in their own way. They are not constrained in their actions and are able to act in the way that they feel most comfortable. Using the robotic platform, the child is able to explore concepts such as interaction distance and turn taking in social activity, in a non-threatening environment in which the child is not judged. In addition, the evaluation of such unstructured trials involving children and robots is a relatively new field, and so an evaluation method was needed in order to test the system and provide quantitative feedback. The discussion will give details of autism, robot control, the aims of the Aurora project and a description of the trial sessions and evaluation method developed. -- Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium Abstracts On-line: http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq/