A team of researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have created a robot specifically designed to help autistic children. “Kiwi” is designed as a “socially assistive robot” that uses artificial intelligence (AI) which understands children’s needs and adapts the lessons accordingly.
Kiwi is a green feathered, two-foot-tall robot that was tested out in the homes of 17 autistic children for the course of one month.
The lessons were focused around space-themed math games on a tablet. Kiwi provided instructions, along with feedback that will congratulate the child for correct answers or provide tips for any wrong answers.
Due to Kiwi’s advanced AI system, it’s capable of adjusting the algorithms based on the individuals learning levels. Advancing the level of difficulty when the child shows improvement.
Shomik Jain is a progressive degree mathematics student, and lead author of the study, who talks about the advancements in this technology:
If you think of a real learning environment, the teacher is going to learn things about the child, and the child will learn things from them. It’s a bidirectional process and that doesn’t happen with current robotic systems. This study aims to make robots smarter by understanding the child’s behavior and responding to it in real-time.
When children study with Kiwi the lessons are recorded, the researchers can then watch the video and detect different things such as eye gaze, audio pitch, head pose, how well the child performed on the tasks, and the overall engagement. The robot was able to autonomously detect the child’s level of engagement with 90% accuracy.
As for the test results, all 17 children who participated in the study improved their math skills and 92% showed an improvement in their social skills by the end of the month.
These robots could be a big help to home care learning, being more affordable and allowing for training whenever the child feels like it. Critics have expressed concerns, Alena Buyx, is a Professor of Ethics in Medicine and Health Technologies at Technical University in Munich, who said; “AI methods cannot and must not be used as a cheaper substitute for treatment by human doctors.”
However, I would argue that not all people learn the same. Many people, especially children, are not comfortable going to laboratory settings for learning.
The researchers of this project stress they are not trying to replace humans, rather trying to help children learn. As Kartik Mahajan, an undergrad in computer science, who co-authored the study explains:
Human therapists are crucial, but they may not always be available or affordable for families. That’s where socially assistive robots like this come in.
The team said the goal in the future would be to have a therapist work with the child and then upload information into Kiwi that would be even more specific to each individual’s needs.
