In this study we examined the social behaviors of 4- to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; N = 24) during three tradic interactions with an adult confederate and an interaction partner, where the interaction partner varied randomly among (1) another adult human, (2) a touchscreen computer game, and (3) a social dinosaur robot. Children spoke more in general, and directed more speech to the adult confederate, when the interaction partner was a robot, as compared to a human or computer game interaction partner. Children spoke as much to the robot as to the adult interaction partner. This study provides the largest demonstration of social human-robot interaction in children with autism to date. Our findings suggest that social robots may be developed into useful tools for social skills and communication therapies, specifically by embedding social interaction into intrinsic reinforcers and motivators.

Constructing valid robotic models of social development requires that we accurately characterize the social learning and interaction that can take place between a robotic agent and a human adult. To that end, this study examined the effect of perceived attitudinal similarity on human-robot interaction. 28 participants rated toys by order of preference and then interacted with a small, socially-expressive robot to determine the robot's preferences for the same toys. The robot displayed either the same preferences as the participant or exactly the opposite preferences. Participants in the Similar-Preferences condition rated the robot as significantly friendlier than did participants in the Dissimilar-Preferences condition. However, there was no difference between conditions in how participants rated their enjoyment of the interaction. These findings have interesting implications for human-robot interaction studies in general, and for work in robotic models of developmental social cognition specifically.