Aparna Jayawardena
Papers
2
Total Citations
7
H-Index
1
About
Aparna Jayawardena is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of socially assistive robotics, human-computer interaction, and speech-language pathology, with a specific focus on autism intervention for Sinhala-speaking children. Her work addresses a critical gap in accessible, culturally-adaptive therapeutic technologies for low-resource language communities. Jayawardena’s major contributions include the development of a multimodal interaction system using the NAO robot, which integrates language content detection, dialog management, voice synthesis, and gesture synthesis to deliver speech-based autism therapy. Her most cited paper (2024, 6 citations) demonstrates the feasibility of this approach, while her subsequent work (2025) advances the field with an intelligent dialog system built on the RASA framework, featuring a sophisticated pipeline for natural language understanding. By creating these first-of-their-kind systems for Sinhala-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jayawardena has laid the groundwork for scalable, robot-assisted therapeutic interventions in underrepresented linguistic contexts. Her research not only showcases technical innovation in multimodal interaction but also holds profound implications for inclusive healthcare technology, making her a notable figure in the growing field of culturally-aware assistive robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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