互動式機器人輔助學習對改善泛自閉症孩童「理解他人意圖」缺陷之效果

Using Assistive Learning with Interactive Robot to Help the Deficit of Understanding Other’s Intention for Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders

泛自閉症障礙(Autism spectrum disorders，ASD)孩童具有社會互動和人際交流的困難，在理解他人意圖方面更為不易，形成社交孤立的生活。近幾年，機器人介入教學已被證實有效改善泛自閉症者社交障礙，本研究針對泛自閉症特徵開發客製化軟／硬體機器人，作為教學與互動練習所用。此機器人，名字「小鹿」，功能包含臉部表情，頭部轉向，左右手舉起放下，手指活動，身體移動，和口語互動等。因此本研究探討此族群之理解他人意圖困難，進行機器人介入教學活動，探究「小鹿」機器人對此族群之理解他人意圖影響。研究方法使用單一受試法之跨受試者多探測設計(Multiple probe across subject design)。共招募四名泛自閉症孩童，使用機器人介入教學模式，同時觀察泛自閉症孩童在此障礙之進步情況，探討與機器人互動之理解他人意圖認知技巧之表現與成效。研究結果顯示，機器人互動教學能有效幫助泛自閉症孩童理解他人意圖，同時提升他們社會互動能力，此機器人之外觀設計也被泛自閉症孩童接受，他們能友善與「小鹿」進行互動。

 

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulties in social and interpersonal interactions. They are difficultly in understanding the intentions of others, which cause them into a socially isolated life. In recent years, robotic intervention has been proven to improve the social barriers in people with autism effectively. Thus, this research developed a cus-tomized robot according to the characteristics of ASD, which proposed to use in teaching and interactive practices for this population. The functions of this robot include the functions of facial expressions, head turning, left and both hands raised and lowered, fingers activities, body movement, and communication. Therefore, this study explores the difficulty of un-derstanding the intentions of others by engaging in robot intervention. The research method used a single subject - Multiple probe across subject design for four children with ASD en-gaged in robot intervention. It explored the impact and effectiveness of using robot inter-vention to individual with ASD, and observed them in the performance of understanding others’ intentions. The results showed that robot-intervention could effectively improve the understanding of others’ intentions and the social interaction skills for children with ASD. Additionally, the participants performed that they could accept the outfit of this robot and showed friendly interaction with this robot.