Description du projet
Un nouveau jouet interactif pour aider les enfants atteints de troubles du spectre autistique
Les troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) sont un ensemble de troubles neurodéveloppementaux caractérisés par une déficience chronique, à divers degrés, de trois domaines fondamentaux du développement psychologique des enfants: la limitation de l’interaction sociale, la déficience ou l’altération de la communication, et la réduction des activités et des intérêts. Le projet PlusMe, financé par l’UE, met au point une peluche interactive (en forme de panda et semblable à un oreiller) comme possible outil de soutien pour le traitement des enfants atteints de TSA. À l’aide de l’électronique embarquée, ce jouet expérimental peut émettre des réponses attirantes, telles que des lumières colorées et des sons amusants, lorsque l’on touche ses pattes. Le jouet est également connecté à un tableau de commande qui permet à l’adulte responsable de modifier les possibilités d’entrées et de sorties, afin de générer des réponses récompensant des compétences sociales comme l’imitation, le contact visuel et la prise de parole.
Objectif
+me is an experimental soft interactive toy with a panda form designed in collaboration with developmental therapists. Thanks to embedded electronics, +me can emit attractive responses as colored lights and amusing sounds when touched on paws. The device is connected to a control tablet to allow an adult caregiver to modify the input-output contingencies, so as to produce several rewarding response patterns according to child’s reaction. These features make +me a potential support tool for therapy of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): the attractiveness and the functional versatility of the device could be exploited during play activities with a therapist to capture the interest of children, to encourage their social interactions, then reinforcing pivotal social skills as imitation, eye-contact, turn-taking.
+me is currently in experimental phase, in pilot tests on children (24-48 months) with ASD and Typical Development (TD). The experiments are conducted in collaboration with the Sec. of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry -Univ. of Rome “Sapienza”- whose researchers showed great interest to technological aid for therapy.
+me is an indirect -yet really promising- outcome of the ongoing FET project “Goal-based Open-ended Autonomous Learning Robots, GOAL-Robots” (Grant Agreement No. 713010).
The main goal of the proposal is to develop the +me from the current experimental prototype towards a “ready-for-market” product, certified for safe use in EU. The proposal aims to 1) engineer the prototype, through a third party company expert in electronic manufacturing, in order to realise a small-scale production of 10/20 working +me samples; 2) at the same time, continue the experimentation on TD and ASD children, to strengthen the scientific aspects of the device; 3) disclose the obtained results through scientific publications and participation to promotional events market-oriented, in forecast of a next possible commercialisation.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinateur
00185 Roma
Italie