Table 4.
Studies on the use of robots in therapy for children with ASD.
| Author | Year | Country | Sample | Control Group | Age | Diagnosis | Area | Method | Results | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kim et al. [22] | 2013 | USA | 24 children | - | 4–12 | ASD | Social Behavior | Interaction with (1) another adult human, (2) a touchscreen computer game, and (3) a social dinosaur robot | Children talked as much to the dinosaur robot as to the adult | Social learning and imitation skills |
| Huskens et al. [103] | 2012 | Netherlands | 6 children | - | 8–14 | ASD | Self-initiated questions | intervention conducted by a human or by robot | Intervention with robots was just as efficient as human intervention | Communication and interaction |
| Goodrich et al. [104] | 2012 | USA | 2 children | - | 3 | ASD | Interaction | Social Robots | After the treatment with the robots, participants interacted more with the clinicians | Communication and interaction |
| Lee et al. [105] | 2012 | Japan | 21 children | Children 6–15 years | - | ASD-Low-functioning autism | Social communication skills | 1-robots with social communication skills 2-robots with verbal communication functionalities | The children interacted better with robots that could talk | Communication and interaction |
| Tapus et al. [106] | 2012 | France | 4 children | - | - | ASD | Social skills | Nao robot (eye gaze, gaze shifting, free initiations and prompted initiations of arm movements, and smile/laughter) | 2 of 4 participants showed greater eye contact with the robot than the other child | Communication and interaction |
| Jordan et al. [107] | 2013 | New Zealand | 3 adolescents | 3 adolescents | - | ASD | Attention, communication, Social skills | Memory card matching game (robot, Smart Board, playing cards) | Reduction of repetitive behavior | Communication and interaction |
| Srinivasan et al. [108,109] | 2011 2013 | USA | 2 children | 15 typically developing children | 7–8 (clinical group) | USA | 2 children | Imitation-specific tasks improvement. | 15 typically developing children | |
| Bekele et al. [110] | 2013 | USA | 6 children | 6 typically developing children | - | ASD | Deficit area of early social orienting | humanoid robot with augmented vision | Robots promoted social skills work with each child individually | Communication and interaction |
| Vanderborght et al. [111] | 2012 | USA | 4 children | - | 4–9 | Austism | Social skills learning | Robot Probo (story teller) | Learning how react to everyday situations | Social learning and imitation skills |