Investigating autistic children's attitudes towards strangers with the theatrical robot - a new experimental paradigm in human-robot interaction studies

Abstract

In this paper, as part of a larger study into the possible use of robots in therapy or education of children with autism, we studied the effects of two different robot appearances on autistic children's behaviour towards the robot. We used a novel experimental paradigm, the theatrical robot, which is discussed in the context of other evaluation methods used in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI). The two appearances used were a plain/robotic and an 'ordinary human' appearance. The response of children with autism towards the plain/robotic robot was notably more social and pro-active. The ordinary-human appearance resulted in the avoidance behaviour or 'aloofness', a typical behaviour that autistic children show towards strangers. Implications of these results for our work on robots and autism, as well as other HRI research are discussed.