Design of Humanoid Robot Based Training APP on Social Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder with social disorder as its core symptom, imposing great pressure on autistic children, families and even social economy. Therefore, it has always been the focus for the academic and clinic field to improve the social communicating skills of autistic children, and thereby provide them better chance to communicate with others and adapt to the society. The latest research has found that children with ASD are more interested in communicating with humanoid social robots comparing to human. Social robots were provided to play an important role in the treatment of social skills of autistic children. However, no training APP was developed to make use of social robots in assisting and educating autistic children. Based on the results of previous studies, semi-structured interview was adopted in this study to collect design elements from 6 professional clinicians and therapists regarding the voice, appearance of the robot. In addition, suggestions regarding the effective intervention contents of improving the social communication skills of autistic children were also collected from the clinicians and therapists. Results of the interview were analyzed and applied to the design of the image of the humanoid robot and the content of the training APP for autistic children aged 4 to 6 years’ old. With the APP, children with ASD are expected to receive professional intervention in a more convenient, fast and effective way.