Wide-Eyed Robot Companion Teaches Communication Skills

December 2017 - Researchers from Gallaudet University in D.C. in partnership with Yale, the University of Southern California and the University of D’Annunzio in Italy have announced a “wide-eyed” robot that helps children that are deaf learn to communicate more effectively. The robot was designed to be a playful companion to children with hearing and communication impairments, and an on-screen human avatar can look the children directly in the eye and communicate sign language and gestures. The avatar and its robot companion are not meant to act as a surrogate for parent’s attention and communication with their child; rather, the avatar was created to present an engaging and interactive stimulus to promote play and the development of communication skills. Though the human avatar is currently limited in its range of facial expression, its wide and animated eyes have proven to be an effective way of guiding children to important stimulus and communicating with them. 

 

Gallaudet neuroscientist Laura-Ann Petitto said, “The same neural sensitivities, they are processed in the identical swatches of brain tissue. The brain tissue that we used to think was only responsible for sound is not the unique bastion of sound processing. It's the unique bastion of human language processing.”A hat-like device with a variety of sensors is placed on the infant’s head to monitor what areas of their brain demonstrate activity when stimulated. A thermal camera on the robot is also utilized to detect minute changes in temperature of the infant’s eyes and face, which indicate increased attention. The human avatar can then help direct the infant’s gaze to areas of interest, and knows when they are truly paying attention. 

 

Diane Paul, Director of Clinical Issues in Speech-Language Pathology at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association said, “It's not the tablet itself, it's not the computer itself or the TV itself, it's the way it's used. We actually want families, caregivers to be reading to their children, speaking to their children, signing, singing. We want that social interaction because it's within that context that you learn speech and language or signing skills.”

 

Gallaudet’s “wide-eyed” robot is a novel example of using technology to increase the accessibility and engagement of children with hearing and communication impairments and build important life-long skills. Source: Matt Simon, Wired.