Abstract Growing evidence shows the potential benefits of robot-assisted therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, when developing new robotics technologies, it must be considered that this condition often causes increased anxiety in unfamiliar settings. Indeed, children with ASD have difficulties accepting changes like introducing multiple new technological devices in their routines, therefore, embedded solutions should be preferred. Also, in this context, robots should be small as children find the bigger ones scary. This leads to limited computing resources onboard as small batteries power them. This article presents a study on gesture recognition using video recorded only by the camera embedded in a NAO robot, while it was leading a clinical procedure. The video is 2D and low quality because of the limits of the NAO-embedded computing resources. The recognition is made more challenging by robot movements, which alter the vision by moving the camera and sometimes by obstructing it with the robot’s arms for short periods. Despite these challenging real-world conditions, in our experiments, we have tuned and improved state-of-the-art algorithms to yield an accuracy higher than $$90\%$$ 90 % in the gesture classification, with the best accuracy being $$94\%$$ 94 % . This level of accuracy is suitable for evaluating the children’s performance and providing information for the diagnosis and continuous assessment of the therapy. We have also considered the performance improvement of using a low-power GPU-AI accelerator embedded system, which could be included in future robots, to enable gesture analysis during the therapy, which could be adapted to the child’s performance. Graphical abstract

Possible applications of robots are growing in educational contexts, where they can support and enhance the traditional learning at any level, including kindergarten. However, the acceptance of such novel technology among the kids is not fully understood, especially for the youngest ones. In this abstract, we present an experiment that investigates the attitude of 52 pre-schooler children before and after the interaction with a humanoid robot in kindergarten setting. The main hypothesis is that ideas and prejudices can change after a controlled interaction with a physical robot. The study found that children exposed to the robot decrease their distress and positively change their attitude toward the technological device. The results suggest that an early, controlled exposure may facilitate future acceptance.

This abstract presents a preliminary evaluation of the usability of a novel system for cognitive testing, which is based on the multimodal interfaces of the social robot “Pepper” and the IBM cloud AI “Watson”. Thirty-six participants experienced the system without assistance and filled the System Usability Scale questionnaire. Results show that the usability of the system is highly reliable.

Robotic psychological assessment is a novel field of research that explores social robots as psychometric tools for providing quick and reliable screening exams. In this study, we involved elderly participants to compare the prototype of a robotic cognitive test with a traditional paper-and-pencil psychometric tool. Moreover, we explored the influence of personality factors and technology acceptance on the testing. Results demonstrate the validity of the robotic assessment conducted under professional supervision. Additionally, results show the positive influence of Openness to experience on the interaction with robot's interfaces, and that some factors influencing technology acceptance, such as Anxiety, Trust, and Intention to use, correlate with the performance in the psychometric tests. Technical feasibility and user acceptance of the robotic platform are also discussed.

Research in robotics has made available numerous possibilities and tools for further innovation in the psychological practice. For instance, recent research provided many examples of possible applications of robots in the education and rehabilitation of people with learning difficulties and/or intellectual disabilities. In this paper, we present a study on how cultural backgrounds can influence the perception and intention to use a robot as an instrument in the future practice. The study involved 37 Italian students and 37 UK students, as future professionals in the field of psychology, which experienced the actual capabilities of a humanoid robot through a live demo. In this work, we explored the main factors of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with the aim to reveal cultural differences. The instrument used was the UTAUT questionnaire, which was designed and validated to investigate the robot acceptance and use. A significant difference on the intention to use the robot is reported in our results. The discriminant analysis produced a very high degree of separation between the two groups, confirming that there is a different approach toward the use of robotics between the two cultures.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition in which deficits in social interaction and social communication can make everyday life difficult. The use of mechanical and electronic devices has proven to be effective in ASD therapy and recently Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) research has suggested that robots are promising tools for the treatment of this disorder. Starting from these findings, our on-going research aims to identify effective modalities for treatment of ASD through interaction with a robot, and to integrate them into existing therapeutic protocols to improve their efficacy. In this paper we present some preliminary findings of our current work towards this objective. We detail the methodology and give the results of a pilot clinical trial, focused on imitation skills, with three children affected by ASD and Intellectual Disability (ID) under treatment in a research centre specialized in the care of children with disabilities. The success of the experiment suggests that the robot can be effectively integrated in the ASD therapies currently used in the centre. Analysis of these initial results encourages the development of effective protocols in which the robot becomes a mediator between the child with ASD and humans and suggests some research avenues for focus in the future.