HRI-based Gaze-contingent Eye Tracking for Autism Spectrum Disorder Treatment: A preliminary study using a NAO robot

Social robots can be used for assisting children managing chronic illness through education and encouragement. In this paper, we present a study about the use of a NAO robot in the therapy with children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, we propose an approach to track the gaze of the child while she/he is interacting with the robot. We adopt a two level architecture, where the high-levels task in the treatment protocol are decided by the therapist and the robot performs autonomously the low-level tasks. We carried out a preliminary evaluation of the proposed approach involving neurotypical and an autistic children.