Social Virtual Reality Robot (V2R): A Novel Concept for Education and Rehabilitation of Children with Autism

Abstract

In this paper, we have presented a novel virtual reality setup with the ability to teach music to children with autism as well as perform automatic assessment of their behaviors. This setup contains <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Social Virtual Reality Robots</i> ( <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V2Rs</i> ) and virtual musical instruments (i.e. xylophone and drum). After conducting a game-session pilot study, we observed that the acceptance rate of the virtual reality headset is about 65% among children with autism, while all of the typically developing children attending the session used the headset. Furthermore, using statistical analysis, it is indicated that the performance of children with autism in music assignments was significantly weaker than their typically developing peers; consequently, the designed V2R music-based game has the potential for autism screening.