Description du projet
Optimisation d’un robot compagnon portable pour les enfants atteints de TSA
La recherche sur le trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA) revêt une grande importance, car cette maladie touche environ un nouveau-né sur dix dans les pays développés. De précédentes recherches financées par l’UE ont permis de mettre au point un prototype de robot compagnon portable appelé PlusMe pour le traitement du TSA et le soutien quotidien des enfants affectés. Le projet IM-TWIN, financé par l’UE, cherche maintenant à doter PlusMe d’un comportement intelligent, à le munir de biocapteurs et de caméras intégrés supplémentaires permettant de détecter l’état affectif d’un enfant et à intégrer tous les composants dans un système d’Internet des objets, lui-même baptisé IM-TWIN. Il validera également le dispositif et ses composants auprès des parties prenantes cibles et travaillera à faire progresser les composants du système vers un niveau de maturité technologique plus élevé. Les travaux du projet contribueront à répondre aux besoins des centres de thérapie et des familles dont les enfants sont atteints de TSA.
Objectif
The IM-TWIN project aims to develop some of the outcomes of the FET GOAL-Robots project towards market exploitation. The basic-research FET GOAL-Robots project aimed to study how intrinsic motivations (“curiosity”) drive exploration and learning in children, and how such processes can be used to develop innovative autonomous robots. This led to conceive the idea that intrinsic motivations can be used to build engaging interactive robots usable for the treatment of children with developmental disorders, in particular within the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD is a condition with dramatic importance for the well-being of society as it affects about 1 out of 10 newborns in developed countries. We thus developed a “wearable companion robot”, usable for the treatment and daily support of ASD, called PlusMe, now at the stage of prototype. The IM-TWIN project has two sets of objectives. The first is to develop a highly-modular system pivoting on the PlusMe, called the IM-TWIN, addressing the needs of the market segment involving ASD therapy centres and, potentially, families with ASD children: this involves endowing the PlusMe with intelligent behaviour, equipping it with additional embedded biosensors and cameras for detecting the child’s affective/emotional state, and integrating all components as a whole IoT system. The second set of objectives aims to validate the device and its components with target stakeholders, and to carry out a number of activities directed to advance the system components to a higher Technological Readiness Level (TRL7 for the PlusMe): this involves identifying the target groups and analysing ASD-related markets, refining and implementing an effective IPR strategy, planning the steps for individual and collective exploitation of the project outcomes, and finally creating a startup for the exploitation of the IM-TWIN system and its components. IM-TWIN will also foster the development of a lively high-tech research and application ecosystem.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsbiosensors
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesinternetinternet of things
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robots
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
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RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
00185 Roma
Italie