Page 147 - Socially Intelligent Agents Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots

130 Socially Intelligent Agents

robot or by going to touch it, to push it, to grab the trunk or by pressing on
the pictograms. The music and the dance were very much appreciated by the
children. The amount of interactions varied greatly from one child to another.
Some remained seated on the floor and played when the robot was close to
them. Others either cleared the way in front of the robot, or moved away
from its path when it was coming in their direction. The amount of time they
remained concentrated on the robot was longer than for the other activities they
did as a group. One little girl who did not like animals, had no trouble petting
Jumbo. She was also playing in place of others when they took too much time
responding to a request or did mistakes. One boy did the same thing (even by
going through the circle), and he was very expressive (by lifting his arms in the
air) when he succeeded with the pictograms.
To the group of teenagers, Jumbo is real. They talked to the robot, reacted
when it was not behaving correctly or when it was not moving toward them.
Some educators were also playing along because they were talking to Jumbo
as if it was a real animal, by calling its name, asking it to come closer. When
Jumbo did not respond correctly and was moving away, educators would say
something like “Jumbo! You should clean your ears!” or “Jumbo has big ears
but cannot hear a thing!”. One boy showed real progress in his participation,
his motivation and his interactions because of the robot. His first reaction was
to observe the robot from a distance, but he rapidly started to participate. His
interest toward the robot was greater than the other kids. He remembered the
pictograms and the interactions they had with the robot from one week to an-
other. He also understood how to change the pictograms and asked frequently
the educators to let him do it. Another boy also liked to take Jumbo in his arms,
like an animal. He showed improvements in shape and color recognition.

3. Discussion

Our tests revealed that autistic children are interested by the movements
made by the robots, and enjoy interacting with these devices. Note that it
should never be expected that a child will play as intended with the robot. This
is part of the game and must be taken into consideration during the design stage
of these robots. In that regard, robustness of the robots is surely of great im-
portance, as some of the more fragile designs got damaged, but mostly by the
same child. Having removable parts is good as long as they are big enough: all
small components or material that can be easily removed should be avoided.
Having the robots behave in particular ways (like dancing, playing music, etc.)
when the child responds correctly to requests made by the robot becomes a
powerful incentive for the child to continue playing with the robots. The idea
is to create rewarding games that can be easily understood (because of its sim-