LARICS received a description of research protocol to study the possible use of humanoid robots in autism diagnosis. As a part of this research, our NAO robots will work with children aged 2-6, and should be able to detect some basic forms of communication, such as gaze, gestures and vocalization. Research protocol is based on ADOS – Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and was written by Maja Cepanec, Sanja Šimleša and Jasmina Stošić, researchers from Faculty of Education and Rehabillitation Sciences, University of Zagreb.
To formulate this protocol, several meetings were held, where LARICS was represented by Damjan Miklić, Frano Petric and our NAO robot Herr Flick. We are looking forward to extend our NAOs functionality and are hoping to achieve results which will help both the autistic children and people working with them.