Robot therapy has been shown to be beneficial to children and other individuals with a wide range of social, emotional, and developmental disorders. It has been shown to create social engagement, promote emotional response and motivate positive behavior change, especially in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or ASD. Researchers around the world are developing assistive social robots to improve lives. A number of these robots are pictured below:

Research has shown that identifying children with ASD in their early stages and treating them with social and emotional building experiences can reduce the severity of their illness in later years. The AuRoRA research project has shown that:

“the use of a robotic platform helps to bridge the gulf between the stable, predictable and safe environment of a simple toy, and the potentially unpredictable world of human contact and learning. Human social behavior can be very subtle and widely unpredictable. On the other hand, the use of robot can allow a simplified environment and at the same time the gradual increase in complexity of interaction, according to the individual child’s abilities. The robots can be used to teach the children basic social interaction skills using turn-taking and imitation games. The use of robots as mediators and as objects of shared attention can further encourage interaction with peers and adults.” – AuRoRA project.

OUR problem is that the benefits of robot therapy are not yet available to the general public because existing prototype robots are too expensive. We have developed a low-cost robot prototype kit designed for not only education and fun, but also social therapy research. Romibo prototypes, built in workshops by people like YOU, will be donated for use by clinicians and parents for supervised robot therapy and research. Together we will co-develop low-cost, robust, shelf-available robots to benefit others with disabilities like ASD.