Attitudes of Children with Autism towards Robots: An Exploratory Study

TL;DR

This study explores how children with autism perceive robots, revealing generally positive attitudes and preferences for robot interaction, with links to social impairments and gaze behaviors, informing targeted robot-assisted interventions.

Contribution

It provides novel insights into the attitudes and preferences of children with ASD towards robots, highlighting potential for personalized robot-assisted therapies.

Findings

Children with ASD generally have positive attitudes towards robots.

Children often prefer interacting with robots over humans.

Attitudes are linked to gaze duration and social impairments.

Abstract

In this exploratory study we assessed how attitudes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) towards robots together with children's autism-related social impairments are linked to indicators of children's preference of an interaction with a robot over an interaction with a person. We found that children with ASD have overall positive attitudes towards robots and that they often prefer interacting with a robot than with a person. Several of children's attitudes were linked to children's longer gazes towards a robot compared to a person. Autism-related social impairments were linked to more repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and to a shorter gaze duration in the interaction with the robot compared to the person. These preliminary results contribute to better understand factors that might help determine sub-groups of children with ASD for whom robots could be particularly useful.