futures❵KASPAR
iRobot Q Q
And what do you do at the University? I work with Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn
and Dr Ben Robins and a team of experts who have created me, to help children with autism to communicate. I travel with them to schools and they use me to help autistic children to open up and interact with me - and ultimately with other people. I mostly work with children who have low-functioning autism which means they have great difficulty communicating with the outside world. I am there to make it easier. I am different to humans as my face is simple, not complicated and unpredictable like yours. We think children with autism find it difficult communicating with people because they are not able to process all of the complexities of human interaction – body language, tone of voice, facial movements, gestures… it’s too much to take in, so they shut down. I am here to help them open up, I’m simple, predictable and fun. We do repetitive play, such as hide and seek, as well as introducing new games. Sometimes they are a bit rough, so I have to tell them that they’re hurting me, but they also tickle my feet, which makes me laugh.
Q 34
Why are you called KASPAR? Well, KASPAR is actually short for Kinesics
and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robots.
Hello KASPAR – thanks for taking the time to speak to us today. So, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Well, I was created about five years ago in a lab in the depths of the Computer Science department. I am a robot, but look like a three year old child and I’ve been specially designed to work with people with autism. I live with lots of other robots which are being developed at the University, including Care-O-Bot who is being designed to help elderly people live independently in their own homes.
However, that’s quite a long name so we decided to go for KASPAR instead... and I think it suits me!
Q Q
Have you met any alumni from the University before?
I don’t think so... I work with a lot of PhD and post- doctoral students but I don’t know if I’ve met any alumni. I am at a lot of events though if they want to come and speak to me!
What are your ambitions for the future? I want to help as many children with autism as I
can. People are really taking an interest in me and the research we are doing. I’ve already been on the Fern Britton show, BBC News and I’ve featured in many news articles and scientific publications all over the world. People are excited by what I might be able to achieve in the future and I am too. There needs to be more KASPARs to help develop our research and give the opportunity for more children with autism to work with robots like me. We need a big KASPAR family so that we can try to help many more children.
Q
Any final messages? We are looking for funding to develop more
robots like me, to work with more children and really understand the potential for me to change the lives of children living with autism. We think I work, but we need to prove it and we want to take our research onto the next level. This means recruiting researchers, building thirty more of me and collecting lots of data to find out how I can help break the isolation of children living with autism.
If you would like to find out more about me and the work I am doing, please contact my friend Jo who can give you more information – you can email j.r.wearne@
herts.ac.uk or call 01707 281273. Bye bye! f❵
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