Abstract
Recent studies on robotics have focused on social relationships between people and robots and shown the value of robotic platforms as therapy tools for children with autism. Some researchers reported that autistic children were interested in and respond socially to robots, but it was difficult to evaluate whether children treated robots as human-like social agents. The present study investigated how autistic children developed relationships with robots as social agents. We observed the children longitudinally, interacting with robots at a school for handicapped children, and analyzed the performances of the autistic children, who had persisted in the Intentional actions of the robots. It was apparent that children were sensitive to the intention of robots and modified their fixed patterns of actions through interaction with the robots. These findings indicate that robots can facilitate social responses and that autistic children can develop social relationships with robots.
