Little Robot for Kids on the Spectrum...

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I was reading about this and it is supposed to help with communication, emotions.
I have no idea if it is available or how much... at first I was watching it and thought, hmmm? But after watching the videos the little thing is pretty cute and it is almost life like... Does it work? But it made me smile.:D

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Biography of Keepon: The Dancing Robot

Meet Keepon - a small (and if I must say so, really CUTE) robot, developed in Japan, by Marek P Michalowski & Hideki Kozima. Designed to interact with children to communicate attention and solicit emotional responses, this robot is not only adorable and surprisingly charismatic, it may change the lives of children who struggle making true emotional connections - for example, children identified as autistic or living with Asperger's Syndrome.

Considered a "Beatbot," or a robot with rhythm, Keepon is also part of a research project on social development and communication. Using the universal language of music and rhythm, Keepon, and the rest of the Beatbots, are designed with the goal to "develop robots that can interact with people by synchronizing with these social rhythms." (http://beatbots.org)

According to their website:
"We believe that rhythmic synchrony is as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people. For example, synchrony between the tempo of a speaker's voice, the punctuation of the speaker's gestures, and the frequency of a listener's nodding is characteristic of smooth and comfortable interactions. Social scientists such as William S. Condon and Adam Kendon have identified interactional synchrony as a phenomenon that plays an important role in the regulation and coordination of movements, vocalizations, and other social cues."

For more about how rhythm relates to language and learning, read this article: http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/pdf/Social Rhythms.PDF

Keep on dancing! And, thanks for reading,

Alisa
 
Top