Touché!: Robot Skin & Tactile Sensitivity

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire's School of Computer Science are developing a robot with artificial skin equipped with tactile sensors. The robot, Kaspar, a child-sized humanoid robot developed by the Adaptive Systems research group, is being used to "encourage social interaction skills in children with autism," as reported in the The Nation today. Dora's written previously about another robot, Keepon, that "specializes in nonverbal social behavior," and Elesia has analyzed the unexpressed assumptions about robots teaching autistic children.

Personally, my son's done best with teachers who are live presences interacting with and responding to him. But I was curious about the notion of developing "robot skin" precisely because of the issue of tactile sensitivity in some individuals on the autism spectrum. More from The Nation :

[Researchers] will cover Kaspar with robotic skin and Dr Daniel Polani will develop new sensor technologies which can provide tactile feedback from areas of the robot’s body. The goal is to make the robot able to respond to different styles of how the children play with Kaspar in order to help the children to develop ‘socially appropriate’ playful interaction (e.g. not too aggressive) when interacting with the robot and other people.

“Children with autism have problems with touch, often with either touching or being touched,” said Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn. “The idea is to put skin on the robot as touch is a very important part of social development and communication and the tactile sensors will allow the robot to detect different types of touch and it can then encourage or discourage different approaches.”

While maintaining a good bit of skepticism about robots-as-teachers, I was drawn to the researchers' interest in studying touch. Throughout his life, Charlie's been simultaneously hyper-sensitive and hypersensitive to touch. He'll start at the lightest tap on his arm and hug me super-tightly. He seems to crave deep pressure and often provides it for himself by wrapping himself tight as a mummy in a big fleece blanket---yet, when he was a baby, I could never swaddle him up in a blanket, as he kicked his way out every time. Lately, too, he's been brushing off attempts to hold his hand and also hugs.

(Which could also be due to Charlie being very much an adolescent boy uninclined to that touchy-feely stuff.)