NIH R21/R33: Transformative Co-Robotic Technology for Autism Intervention

描述(由申请人提供)：根据疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)对ASD儿童患病率的最新估计为每88人中有1人，有效的早期识别和治疗通常被描述为公共卫生紧急情况。鉴于目前干预科学的局限性以及这种疾病在整个生命周期内的巨大成本，迫切需要能够提高干预结果的更有效的治疗方法。越来越多的研究调查了先进的交互技术在ASD干预中的应用，包括计算机技术、虚拟现实(VR)环境，以及最近的机器人系统。拟议研究的主要目标是设计和初步测试一个强大的机器人干预平台和环境，专门为加速改善核心ASD缺陷的早期领域而设计。特别是，它专注于开发一种机器人干预系统(ARIA：自适应机器人中介干预体系结构)，能够将实时、非侵入性的凝视检测与智能环境无缝集成，该智能环境具有根据儿童的表现自主改变系统功能的能力，以影响早期的关节注意力技能，这些技能被认为是ASD病因和治疗的关键社交沟通基础。虽然技术进步不太可能取代传统的干预模式，但我们假设，自适应机器人系统可能具有巨大的价值，作为潜在的加速器技术，以有效的方式增强学习干预方式，特别是对于那些在很小的年龄就表现出对非生物行动和事件的应急反应相对于与社会伙伴的互动有很大差异的儿童。在拟议的研究中，我们将通过明确的设计和测试这样一个系统来提高早期联合注意技能领域的表现，来调查机器人技术对患有自闭症儿童的现实潜力。因此，我们项目R21阶段的具体目标和里程碑集中在：1)将非接触式凝视技术集成到系统中，2)实现系统架构的自主闭环操作，3)在与自主系统交互的同时展示足够的初始用户功能。在达到这些里程碑并展示初始系统容量之后，我们项目的R33阶段将在试点干预实验期间评估机器人中介体系结构的性能。这项试验将具体评估与ASD幼儿相关的系统容量，以及与方案中招募和保留、用户耐受性和患者满意度相关的可行性数据。这项试点试验还将在系统内评估联合注意技能的改进情况，以及评估这种技能在更大规模试验中推广的可能性的方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): With the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prevalence estimates for children with ASD at 1 in 88, effective early identification and treatment is often characterized as a public health emergency. Given the present limits of intervention science and the enormous costs of the disorder across the lifespan, there is an urgent need for more efficacious treatments that can enhance intervention outcomes. A growing number of studies have investigated the application of advanced interactive technologies to ASD intervention, including computer technology, virtual reality (VR) environments, and more recently, robotic systems. The primary goal of the proposed research is the design and preliminary testing of a robust robotic intervention platform and environment specifically designed to accelerate improvements in early areas of core ASD deficit. In particular, it focuses on developing a robotic intervention system (ARIA: Adaptive Robot-mediated Intervention Architecture) capable of seamlessly integrating real-time, non-invasive detection of gaze with an intelligent environment endowed with the ability to autonomously alter system function based on child performance to impact early joint attention skills, thought to be fundamental social communication building blocks central to etiology and treatment of ASD. While it is unlikely that technological advances will take the place of traditional intervention paradigms, we hypothesize that adaptive robotic systems may hold great value as potential accelerant technologies that enhance learning intervention modalities in potent ways, particularly for children who show powerful differences in their contingent responses to non-biological actions and events relative to interactions with social partners at very early ages. In the proposed research, we will investigate the realistic potential of robotic technology for young children with ASD via explicit design and tests of such a system to improve performance within the domain of early joint attention skills. Thus, the specific aims and milestones of the R21 phase of our project focus on: 1) Achieving integration of noncontact gaze technology into the system, 2) realizing autonomous closed-loop operation of our system architecture, and 3) demonstrating adequate initial user functioning while interacting with the autonomous system. Subsequent to attaining these milestones and demonstrating initial system capacity, the R33 phase of our project will assess the performance of the robot-mediated architecture during a pilot intervention experiment. This trial will specifically evaluate system capacities as related t very young children with ASD as well as feasibility data related to recruitment and retention in the protocol, user tolerance, and patient satisfaction. This pilot trial will also assess within system improvement in joint attention skills, as well as a methodology for assessing potential generalization of such skills in a larger trial.