Title
Developing Kaspar: A Humanoid Robot For Children With Autism
Abstract
In the late 1990s using robotic technology to assist children with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASD) emerged as a potentially useful area of research. Since then the field of assistive robotics for children with ASD has grown considerably with many academics trialling different robots and approaches. One such robot is the humanoid robot Kaspar that was originally developed in 2005 and has continually been built upon since, taking advantage of technological developments along the way. A key principle in the development of Kaspar since its creation has been to ensure that all of the advances to the platform are driven by the requirements of the users. In this paper we discuss the development of Kaspar's design and explain the rationale behind each change to the platform. Designing and building a humanoid robot to interact with and help children with ASD is a multidisciplinary challenge that requires knowledge of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Child-Robot Interaction (CRI) and knowledge of ASD. The Kaspar robot has benefited from the wealth of knowledge accrued over years of experience in robot-assisted therapy for children with ASD. By showing the journey of how the Kaspar robot has developed we aim to assist others in the field develop such technologies further.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1007/s12369-019-00563-6
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ROBOTICS
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Autism therapy, Humanoid social robots, User-centred design, Autonomous systems, Cognitive architecture
Journal
13
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
3
1875-4791
6
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.55
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Luke Jai Wood1204.38
Abolfazl Zaraki2599.20
Ben Robins336738.14
Kerstin Dautenhahn43124347.57