Facilitating Play Between Children with Autism and an Autonomous Robot

This thesis is part of the Aurora project, an ongoing long-term project investigating the potential use of robots to help children with autism overcome some of their impairments in social interaction, communication and imagination. Autism is a spectrum disorder and children with autism have different abilities and needs. Related research has shown that robots can play the role of a mediator for social interaction in the context of autism. Robots can enable simple interactions, by initially providing a relatively predictable environment for play. Progressively, the complexity of the interaction can be increased. The purpose of this thesis is to facilitate play between children with autism and an autonomous robot. Children with autism have a potential for play but often encounter obstacles to actualize this potential. Through play, children can develop multidisciplinary skills, involving social interaction, communication and imagination. Besides, play is a medium for self-expression. The purpose here is to enable children with autism to experience a large range of play situations, ranging from dyadic play with progressively better balanced interaction styles, to situations of triadic play with both the robot and the experimenter. These triadic play situations could also involve symbolic or pretend play. This PhD work produced the following results: • A new methodological approach of how to design, conduct and analyse robotassisted play was developed and evaluated. This approach draws inspiration from non-directive play therapy where the child is the main leader for play and