EMBOA: Affective Loop in Socially Assistive Robotics as an Intervention Tool for Children with Autism

EMBOA : “Affective loop in Socially Assistive Robotics as an intervention tool for children with autism” is a research and didactic project that aims at enhancement of social robot intervention in children with autism with affective computing technologies.

The project is conducted by an international consortium and includes the development of guidelines and practical evaluation of applying emotion recognition technologies in robot-supported intervention in children with autism.

It combines three domains: autism therapy, social robots and automatic emotion recognition. The EMBOA project goal is to confirm the possibility of the application (feasibility study), and in particular, we aim at the identification of the best practices and obstacles in using the combination of the technologies. What we hope to obtain is a novel approach for creating an affective loop in child-robot interaction that would enhance interventions regarding emotional intelligence building in children with autism. The lessons learned, summarized in the form of guidelines, might be used in higher education in all involved countries in robotics, computer science, and special pedagogy fields of study.

EMBOA is implemented in years 2019-2022 under EU Erasmus Plus Strategic Partnership for Higher Education Programme.

EMBOA – Affective loop in Socially Assistive Robotics as an intervention tool for children with autism