Understanding Robot Gesture Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Human–Robot Interaction

Abstract

Social robots are increasingly being used in therapeutic contexts, especially as a complement in the therapy ofchildren with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Because of this, the aim of this study is to understand howchildren with ASD perceive and interpret the gestures made by the robot Pepper versus human instructor,which can also be in°uenced by verbal communication. This study analyzes the impact of both conditions(verbal and nonverbal communication) and types of gestures (conversational and emotional) on gesturerecognition through the study of the accuracy rate and examines the physiological responses of children withthe Empatica E4 device. The results reveal that verbal communication is more accessible to children withASD and neurotypicals (NT), with emotional gestures being more interpretable than conversational gestures.The Pepper robot was found to generate lower responses of emotional arousal compared to the humaninstructor in both ASD and neurotypical children. This study highlights the potential of robots like Pepper tosupport the communication skills of children with ASD, especially in structured and predictable nonverbalgestures. However, the findings also point to challenges, such as the need for more reliable robotic communicationmethods, and highlight the importance of changing interventions tailored to individual needs.