A Socially Assistive Robot Integrated with Serious Games for Therapies with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down Syndrome
Name: JOAO ANTONIO CAMPOS PANCERI
Publication date: 29/05/2025
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ADRIANO OLIVEIRA ANDRADE | Examinador Externo |
| ANDRÉS ALBERTO RAMÍREZ DUQUE | Examinador Externo |
| ELIETE MARIA DE OLIVEIRA CALDEIRA | Examinador Interno |
| NICOLÁS JACOBO VALENCIA JIMÉNEZ | Examinador Externo |
| TEODIANO FREIRE BASTOS FILHO | Presidente |
Summary: This work introduces a new socially assistive robot termed MARIA T21 (meaning “Mobile Autonomous Robot for Interaction with Autistics”, with the addition of the acronym T21, meaning “Trisomy 21”, which is used to designate individuals with Down syndrome). This new robot was proposed to be used by children with Down Syndrome (DS) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (contributing to improve their proprioception, postural balance, and gait), and in psychosocial and cognitive therapies. The robot uses, as a novelty, an embedded mini-video projector able to project serious games on the floor or tables to make already-established therapies funnier to these children, thus creating a motivating and facilitating effect for both children and therapists.
The serious games were developed in Python through the library Pygame, considering theoretical bases of behavioral psychology for these children. Sensors such as LIDAR (Light and Detectin and Ranging) and cameras are used to detect children’s presence and identify their moviments to excecute a play. Everything is integrated into the robot through the Robot Operating System (ROS). Experimental sessions were conducted with children diagnosed with ASD aged between 4 and 13 years, and with children diagnosed with DS, aged between 5 and 18 years. These sessions took place at three specialized institutions: AMAES Vitória, APAE Vila Velha, and APAE Vitória. Encouraging results from the child–robot interaction were obtained, according to outcomes from the application of two metrics, which are the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) and the System Usability Scale (SUS).
