Written accessibly from the user’s perspective, Introducing Therapeutic Robotics for Autism is a must read for researchers from related disciplinary backgrounds including robotics, educational psychology, cognitive sciences, and ASD.

Written accessibly from the user’s perspective, Introducing Therapeutic Robotics for Autism is a must read for researchers from related disciplinary backgrounds including robotics, educational psychology, cognitive sciences, and ASD.

The field of robotics in a classroom context has seen an increase in global momentum recently because of its positive contributions in the teaching of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and beyond. It is argued that when robotics and programming are integrated in developmentally appropriate ways, cognitive skill development beyond STEM can be achieved. The development of educational robotics has presented a plethora of ways in which students can be assisted in the classroom. Designing, Constructing, and Programming Robots for Learning highlights the importance of integrating robotics in educational practice and presents various ways for how it can be achieved. It further explains how 21st century skills and life skills can be developed through the hands-on experience of educational robotics. Covering topics such as computational thinking, social skill enhancement, and teacher training, this text is an essential resource for engineers, educational software developers, teachers, professors, instructors, researchers, faculty, leaders in educational fields, students, and academicians.

The robot population is rising on Earth and other planets. (Mars is inhabited entirely by robots.) As robots slip into more domains of human life--from the operating room to the bedroom--they take on our morally important tasks and decisions, as well as create new risks from psychological to physical. This makes it all the more urgent to study their ethical, legal, and policy impacts. To help the robotics industry and broader society, we need to not only press ahead on a wide range of issues, but also identify new ones emerging as quickly as the field is evolving. For instance, where military robots had received much attention in the past (and are still controversial today), this volume looks toward autonomous cars here as an important case study that cuts across diverse issues, from liability to psychology to trust and more. And because robotics feeds into and is fed by AI, the Internet of Things, and other cognate fields, robot ethics must also reach into those domains, too. Expanding these discussions also means listening to new voices; robot ethics is no longer the concern of a handful of scholars. Experts from different academic disciplines and geographical areas are now playing vital roles in shaping ethical, legal, and policy discussions worldwide. So, for a more complete study, the editors of this volume look beyond the usual suspects for the latest thinking. Many of the views as represented in this cutting-edge volume are provocative--but also what we need to push forward in unfamiliar territory.

Autism is a complex multifaceted disorder affecting neurodevelopment during the early years of life and, for many, throughout the life span. Inherent features include difficulties or deficits in communication, social interaction, cognition, and interpersonal behavioral coordination, to name just a few. Autism profoundly impacts the affected individual, the family, and, in many cases, the localized communities. The increased prevalence of childhood autism has resulted in rapid developments in a wide range of disciplines in recent years. Nevertheless, despite intensive research, the cause(s) remain unresolved and no single treatment strategy is employed. To address these issues, Comprehensive Guide to Autism is an all-embracing reference that offers analyses and discussions of contemporary issues in the field of autism. The work brings together scientific material from leading experts in the field relating to a wide range of important current topics, such as the early identification and treatment of children with autism, pertinent social and behavioral studies, recent developments in genetics and immunology, the influence of diet, models of autism, and future treatment prospects. Comprehensive Guide to Autism contains essential readings for behavioral science researchers, psychologists, physicians, social workers, parents, and caregivers.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2015, held in Paris, France, in October 2015. The 70 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 126 submissions. The papers focus on the interaction between humans and robots and the integration of robots into our society and present innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, novel applications on the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of social robotics, distinguished developmental projects, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy, studies on social impact and influence pertaining to social robotics, and its interaction and communication with human beings and its social impact on our society.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2016, held in Kansas City, MO, USA, in November 2016. The 98 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 107 submissions. The theme of the 2016 conference is Sociorobotics: Design and implementation of social behaviors of robots interacting with each other and humans. In addition to technical sessions, ICSR 2016 included three workshops: The Synthetic Method in Social Robotics (SMSR 2016), Social Robots: A Tool to Advance Interventions for Autism, and Using Social Robots to Improve the Quality of Life in the Elderly.

This proceedings volume comprises the latest achievements in research and development in educational robotics presented at the 9th International Conference on Robotics in Education (RiE) held in Qawra, St. Paul's Bay, Malta, during April 18-20, 2018. Researchers and educators will find valuable methodologies and tools for robotics in education that encourage learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) through the design, creation and programming of tangible artifacts for creating personally meaningful objects and addressing real-world societal needs. This also involves the introduction of technologies ranging from robotics platforms to programming environments and languages. Extensive evaluation results are presented that highlight the impact of robotics on the students’ interests and competence development. The presented approaches cover the whole educative range from elementary school to the university level in both formal as well as informal settings.

Recent evidence has shown that children with autism may behave more pro-socially when interacting with a robot than with a human. The objective of this research is to develop a robotic system for use in the clinical treatment of children with autism. The governing assumption behind this thesis is that using a robot in a clinic, under the guidance of a trained therapist, may lead to therapeutic benefits that may not be achieved without the presence of the robot.