Social skills training using multiple humanoid robots for individuals with autism spectrum conditions

Keiji Takata; Yuichiro Yoshikawa; Taro Muramatsu; Yoshio Matsumoto; Hiroshi Ishiguro; Masaru Mimura; Hirokazu Kumazaki

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1168837

Social skills training using multiple humanoid robots for individuals with autism spectrum conditions

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jul 19:14:1168837. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1168837. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Keiji Takata¹, Yuichiro Yoshikawa², Taro Muramatsu³, Yoshio Matsumoto^{4

5}, Hiroshi Ishiguro², Masaru Mimura³, Hirokazu Kumazaki^{3

4

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Saitama Gakuen University, Saitama, Japan.
² Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
³ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Human Augmentation Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan.
⁵ Department of Clinical Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
⁶ College of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
⁷ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.

Abstract

Introduction: Social skills training (SST) is used to help individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) better understand the perspectives of others and social interactions, develop empathy skills, and learn how to engage with others socially. However, many individuals with ASC cannot easily sustain high motivation and concentration during such an intervention when it is administered by humans. We developed a social skills training program using multiple humanoid robots (STUH), including an android robot, that aimed to enable individuals with ASC to become familiar with the perspectives of others and improve their sociability and empathy skills. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of STUH for these individuals.

Methods: In STUH, we prepared 50 social exercises that consisted of conversations and behavioral interactions between an android robot and a simple humanoid robot. We prepared another humanoid robot that featured a cartoon-like and mechanical design, which played the role of host. In the first half-session of STUH, participants worked on the exercise from the perspective of an outsider. In the second half-session of STUH, they simulated experience by using robots as their avatars. The intervention associated with STUH was conducted for five days in total. We conducted an analysis of variance (ANOVA) featuring the intervention time point as the independent variable to examine changes in each score on the sociability index items.

Results: In total, 14 individuals with ASC participated in the study. The results of multiple comparison tests using the Bonferroni method indicated that all sociability index items improved between preintervention and follow-up. Our program enabled the participants to become familiar with the perspectives of others and improve their sociability.

Discussion: Given the promising results of this study, future studies featuring long-term follow-up should be conducted to draw definitive conclusions about the efficacy of our training system.

Keywords: autism spectrum conditions; empathy skills; humanoid robot; perspective of others; social skills training.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JST, Moonshot R&D Grant Number JPMJMS2011.