Multimodal AI-Based Mobile App For Forecasting Meltdowns and Supporting ASD Children

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As demonstrated by the recent study of Newcastle University in collaboration with the University of Cambridge's Department of Psychiatry and Maastricht University, that was conducted in more than 7 million children, around one in 57 children in the UK are on the autistic spectrum, significantly higher than previously reported. This number is only expected to rise in the future. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often suffer from meltdowns that might include behaviors such as crying, shouting, hitting or withdrawing. Meltdowns can make it difficult for ASD children and teenagers to actively participate in everyday activities. It is crucial to help ASD children recognize signs that they have started feeling uncomfortable and a meltdown is coming, and support them develop and apply coping mechanisms to calm down. These sings may include racing heartbeat, churning stomach, difficulty breathing and other physiological and behavioral clues. This project leads to a novel mobile application that will combine in real time diverse inputs from standard smart devices such a smartphone and/or a smartwatch to forecast and prevent meltdowns of ASD children in different situations. Towards this purpose the proposed solution exploits the latest technologies in signal processing, data fusion, deep learning and adaptive fuzzy systems. By utilizing these technologies, the innovation processes different combinations of input signals in real time and provides a forecast concerning an impending meltdown. Based on the child's profile and the intensity of the forecasted event the application generates and outputs user-specific feedback. This feedback includes access to instructions, images, sounds or video that are shown to calm the child in similar meltdown situations. Given the above, the proposed mobile application can make a significant difference in the lives of ASD children and their families. Britannia members are experts in AI technologies and have a multidisciplinary background that aligns perfectly with the project. This background includes working with ASD children, as well as developing intelligent applications using advanced computer technologies to support ASD children. Britannia College has a network of UK and international partners that is able to help the company maximize the uptake of the application and its positive impact to ASD children and their families. This project supports the government's national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their families and delivers an innovative product with a global impact that promises to deliver huge benefits to UK economy and society.