Social robots to support practitioners in the education and clinical care of children: The CARER-AID project

The Controlled Autonomous Robot for Early detection and Rehabilitation of Autism and Intellectual Disability (CARER-AID) project aimed at verifying the effects of the introduction of a humanoid robot in the clinical routine as a supervised autonomous assistant to support clinical staff in the care of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) associated with Intellectual Disability (ID). The CARER-AID project was undertaken by a multidisciplinary team composed of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics and clinical psychologists experienced in the treatment of ID. The literature shows that children with ASD seem to prefer robotic devices over non-robotic instruments and indeed humans. Starting from this, CARER-AID clinical studies provided experimental evidence that demonstrated several potential benefits of robot-assisted therapy when treating children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ASD with or without ID. Alongside the study in a clinical setting, the project also investigated the acceptability and the attitudes towards social robotics in an educational context. The study evaluated the teachers' perception of introducing a humanoid robot in a kindergarten and the attitudes of children with Typical Development (TD) towards. The results of the clinical and educational studies showed the usefulness of social robotics in supporting practitioners in their interventions with both TD and neurodevelopmental disorders. The CARER-AID project offers a unitary vision of a robot that can serve in different aspects and levels of the care, from the education to the therapeutic rehabilitation, from assessment to monitoring of results, providing assistance to caregivers and professionals at school and in clinical settings.