TY - JOUR
T1 - A pilot study for robot appearance preferences among high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder
T2 - Implications for therapeutic use
AU - Kumazaki, Hirokazu
AU - Warren, Zachary
AU - Muramatsu, Taro
AU - Yoshikawa, Yuichiro
AU - Matsumoto, Yoshio
AU - Miyao, Masutomo
AU - Nakano, Mitsuko
AU - Mizushima, Sakae
AU - Wakita, Yujin
AU - Ishiguro, Hiroshi
AU - Mimura, Masaru
AU - Minabe, Yoshio
AU - Kikuchi, Mitsuru
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Kumazaki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - Recent rapid technological advances have enabled robots to fulfill a variety of human-like functions, leading researchers to propose the use of such technology for the development and subsequent validation of interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although a variety of robots have been proposed as possible therapeutic tools, the physical appearances of humanoid robots currently used in therapy with these patients are highly varied. Very little is known about how these varied designs are experienced by individuals with ASD. In this study, we systematically evaluated preferences regarding robot appearance in a group of 16 individuals with ASD (ages 10–17). Our data suggest that there may be important differences in preference for different types of robots that vary according to interaction type for individuals with ASD. Specifically, within our pilot sample, children with higher-levels of reported ASD symptomatology reported a preference for specific humanoid robots to those perceived as more mechanical or mascot-like. The findings of this pilot study suggest that preferences and reactions to robotic interactions may vary tremendously across individuals with ASD. Future work should evaluate how such differences may be systematically measured and potentially harnessed to facilitate meaningful interactive and intervention paradigms.
AB - Recent rapid technological advances have enabled robots to fulfill a variety of human-like functions, leading researchers to propose the use of such technology for the development and subsequent validation of interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although a variety of robots have been proposed as possible therapeutic tools, the physical appearances of humanoid robots currently used in therapy with these patients are highly varied. Very little is known about how these varied designs are experienced by individuals with ASD. In this study, we systematically evaluated preferences regarding robot appearance in a group of 16 individuals with ASD (ages 10–17). Our data suggest that there may be important differences in preference for different types of robots that vary according to interaction type for individuals with ASD. Specifically, within our pilot sample, children with higher-levels of reported ASD symptomatology reported a preference for specific humanoid robots to those perceived as more mechanical or mascot-like. The findings of this pilot study suggest that preferences and reactions to robotic interactions may vary tremendously across individuals with ASD. Future work should evaluate how such differences may be systematically measured and potentially harnessed to facilitate meaningful interactive and intervention paradigms.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0186581
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0186581
M3 - Article
C2 - 29028837
AN - SCOPUS:85031293165
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 12
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 10
M1 - e0186581
ER -