Pepe: an adaptive robot that helps children with autism to plan and self-manage their day.

• Main Author: Cañete Yaque, Raquel
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö universitet, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3) 2021
• Subjects: assistive robots; assistive technology; autism; children; interaction design; smart toys; Interaction Technologies; Interaktionsteknik; Design
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-43492

Covid19 has brought up physical and mental challenges for all of us. However, this is even more pronounced for those who suffer from psychological pathologies, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). One of the main challenges that parents of children with ASD faced during the pandemic was to plan and structure a daily routine for their kids. The disruption of the routine, together with the difficulty of combining work and the care of the child has resulted in behavioral problems and stress and anxiety for both, parents and children.    This project focused on developing an adaptive robot that helps children with autism to plan and self-manage their day, with the end goal of becoming more independent. With adaptability, agencies, senses, and playfulness at the core of the design, Pepe is meant as a support tool for these children to use along the way. By collecting information from the performance of the kid, it is able to adapt its behavior to the child´s (and parent´s) needs and desires, and therefore progress with the child. It builds upon the principles of Positive Behavioral Support to prevent emotional crises by embracing a long-run negotiation process, by which the child gets gradually closer to the end goal of self-autonomy. Intending to be adapted to the accentuated needs of these children, it combines traditional and computational elements to make the most out of the experience. This project included in-depth user research together with parents and experts, an interdisciplinary design approach, and a prototyping phase in which a prototype was tested with children with ASD.