Robots to Help Children to Form Relationships
From: PhysOrg.com - 05/30/2007

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are bringing KASPAR (Kinesics
and Synchronization in Personal Assistant Robotics) into local schools in an
effort to study the effectiveness of using robots to help children with
disabilities develop socials skills. The Interactive Robotic Social Mediators
as Companions (IROMEC) project, follows Hertfordshire's success with AuRoRA
(Autonomous mobile Robot as a Remedial tool for Autistic children) in
encouraging imitation and turn-taking behavior. "This previous research led
us to using KASPAR, a child-sized humanoid robot, with minimum facial
expressions, which can move its arms and legs and allows the child to
interact with it," says Dr. Ben Robins. The three-year project, funded by the
European Sixth Framework, will help reveal the potential of robotic toys as
mediators of human contact for children with special needs. "We are seeing
already that through interacting with the robot, children who would not
normally mix are becoming interested in getting involved with other children
and humans in general and we believe that this work could pave the way for
having robots in the classroom and in homes to facilitate this interaction,"
add Robins. Other members of the Hertfordshire team include professor Kerstin
Dautenhahn and Dr. Ester Ferrari in the School of Computer Science. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.physorg.com/news99649531.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=72559

Links:
Kaspar
http://kaspar.feis.herts.ac.uk/

Aurora project
http://www.aurora-project.com/

IROMEC project
http://www.iromec-project.co.uk/

Kaspar, the Friendly Robot
http://www.raisingkids.co.uk/todaysnews07/news_010607_01.asp

Robots and AuRoRA
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqbr/aurora/background/robots.html

Dr. Ben Robins
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqbr/

Autonomous mobile Robot as a remedial tool for Autistic children
http://www.fastuk.org/research/projview.php?id=476
