The problem of autism people (i.e asperger) is the communication with other people, interaction with othet people by means language. Tasks in that direction can be useful to help to autism people.

Thanks for your reply Mr. Gil.

How can we incorporate the same in a humanoid robot.

If you are not aware of it, I suggest you look up the work of Kerstin Dautenhahn, and her group at the University of Hertfordshire (http://adapsys.feis.herts.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=18&Itemid=121). They have done a lot of work in this area.

Perhaps, you can contact with James Cusack. He is researcher in uk but also he is aspergerhttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/the-north/people/j.cusack

My nephew is asperger, too. He is ten years old.

Autist patients and children in particular have problems related to social interaction and communication reciprocity. It was studied that for them it is much easier to interact with computer and machines, that have a predictable behaviour. Patients suffering from autism prefer repeatable actions and a much more reproducible interactions that are not always possible interacting with humans. Humanoid robots, having a human shape but being at the same time machine, can therefore facilitate the development of social reciprocity skills and interaction abilities, being at the same time a teaching and a gaming tool.

I Thank all of you for sharing your valuable inputs.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. Children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show early impairment in Joint Attention and Imitation. Several researches focused on the use of robots during therapeutic sessions with impaired people. It is possible to categorize such applications into four dierent kinds: a) robot vs humans behavior comparison; b) child behaviors elicitation; c) active skills training; d) providing feedback on performances. In the first case, the behavior of the child during interactions with a humanoid robot is compared with his behavior in the same interaction performed with a human therapist: here the focus is on how the human characteristics in influence the interaction. In the behavior elicitation case, the humanoid robot stimulates a social reaction of the child: its presence, absence, and more in general, the quality of this response is helpful during the therapy assessment carried out by the therapists. The humanoid robot is also able to model, teach and practice a skill: in this case the aim is to facilitate the learning of such skill by the child and its eventual transfer in interactions with humans. At last, humanoid robots can provide feedbacks to the child about his current activity, to reinforce the learning. Also, the robot can help the therapist on achieving a more natural interaction, by providing information regarding the internal stimuli of the child and increasing in this way the individualized nature of the therapy. They all done by the features that a humanoid robot have in comparison to the robot's characteristics and features. It is like a human and if it has a funny look and appearance, it could help more the autism.

Article Robots for Use in Autism Research

Conference Paper Automated detection and classification of positive vs. negat...

Article Exploring emotional and imitational android-based interactio...