Page 27 - Socially Intelligent Agents Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots

10 Socially Intelligent Agents

tracked. At the same time, interaction with computer technology can provide
users with rewarding and often very enjoyable experiences. The use of So-
cially Intelligent Agents (robotic or software) in autism therapy is a quite re-
cent development. People with autism generally have great difficulty in social
interaction and communication with other people. This involves impairments
in areas such as recognizing and interpreting the emotional meaning of facial
expressions, difficulties in turn-taking and imitation, as well as problems in es-
tablishing and maintaining contact with other people. However, many people
with autism feel very comfortable with computer technology which provides
a, in comparison to interactions with people, relatively safe and predictable
environment that puts the person in control. Three chapters in this section ad-
dress the use of interactive agents in autism therapy from different viewpoints.
The last chapter discusses the application area of providing counseling support
where embodied virtual agents are part of a ‘therapy session’.
Chapter 14 reports on results emerging from the project Aurora (Autono-
mous robotic platform as a remedial tool for children with autism). It is a
highly interdisciplinary project involving computer scientists, roboticists and
psychologists. Aurora is strongly therapeutically oriented and investigates sys-
tematically how to engage children with autism in interactions with a social
robot. A central issue in the project is the evaluation of the interactions that
occur during the trials. Such data is necessary for moving towards the ul-
timate goal of demonstrating a contribution to autism therapy. This chapter
introduces two different techniques that assess the interactive and communica-
tive competencies of children with autism. A quantitative technique based on
micro-behaviors allows to compare differences in children’s behavior when in-
teracting with the robot as opposed to other objects. Secondly, it is shown how
a qualitative technique (Conversation Analysis) can point out communicative
competencies of children with autism during trials with the mobile robot.
In chapter 15 François Michaud and Catherine Théberge-Turmel describe
different designs of autonomous robots that show a variety of modalities in
how they can interact with people. This comprises movements as well as vo-
cal messages, music, color and visual cues, and others. The authors goal is
to engineer robots that can most successfully engage different children with
autism. Given the large individual differences among people diagnosed along
the autistic spectrum, one can safely predict that one and the same robot might
not work with all children, but that robots need to be individually tailored to-
wards the needs and strengths of each child. The authors’ work demonstrates
research along this direction to explore the design space of autonomous robots
in autism therapy. The chapter describes playful interactions of autistic chil-
dren and adults with different robots that vary significantly in their appearance
and behavior, ranging from spherical robotic ‘balls’ to robots with arms and
tails that can play rewarding games.