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Review
. 2024 Feb 12;14(2):131.
doi: 10.3390/bs14020131.

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits

Marion Dubois-Sage  1 , Baptiste Jacquet  1   2 , Frank Jamet  1   2   3 , Jean Baratgin  1   2
Affiliations
Review

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits

Marion Dubois-Sage et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder show deficits in communication and social interaction, as well as repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Interacting with robots could bring benefits to this population, notably by fostering communication and social interaction. Studies even suggest that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder could interact more easily with a robot partner rather than a human partner. We will be looking at the benefits of robots and the reasons put forward to explain these results. The interest regarding robots would mainly be due to three of their characteristics: they can act as motivational tools, and they are simplified agents whose behavior is more predictable than that of a human. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges to be met in specifying the optimum conditions for using robots with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; human–robot interaction; social cognition; social motivation; social skills; socially assistive robot.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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