Social Assistive Robotics for Autistic Children

This paper introduces the project Social Assistive Robotics for Autistic Children aimed at using robotic therapy for autism. The goal of the project is testing autistic children’s interactions with the social robot NAO. In particular the robot will support the operators (psychologists, educators, speech therapists etc.) in their work. The innovative aspect of the project is that the children robot interaction will consider the children’s emotions and specific features and the robot will adapt its behavior accordingly.