Robot Renaissance

Just over a year ago, I wrote about a handful of research groups creating robots that can engage children who have autism using speech, facial expressions or body movements. These 'social' bots ranged from a miniature dinosaur and a dancing yellow snowman to several sophisticated, full-size humanoids.The eclectic collection now includes a boy that can sense when it's touched, a floating female head that expresses a wide range of emotions and a low-cost fuzzy penguin that can track a child's eye movements. Descriptions of all three appear in the latest conference proceedings of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.Read more at...SFARI, February 2012.