Sugar, Salt and Pepper

Welcome To Our Humanoid Robotics for Autism Project

Topics & Goals

What we are looking for, this is our challenge.

Pepper showing the laboratory's activities

Sugar, Salt & Pepper - Humanoid robotics for autism

Autism spectrum disorders include a group of permanent disabilities that affect the ability to communicate, understand social cues, and recognize and express emotions.

In the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders, the interest is directed more towards objects and components of objects and, moreover, there is a particular predisposition and interest in electronic and computer devices.

Robotic therapy for autism has been explored as one of the first application domains in the field of socially assistive robotics (SAR), which aims to develop robots that help people with special needs through social interaction.

Project main goals

The aim of the research project Sugar, Salt & Pepper - Humanoid robotics for autism - envisions the use of the Pepper robot in a therapeutic laboratory on autonomy to promote functional acquisitions in children diagnosed with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder / Asperger's syndrome.


We would like also to:

  • Test the exchanges and interactions of the child with autism in rehabilitation contexts (work on language / communication, on emotions, social skills training, etc.) with the robot to help the operators (psychologists, educators, speech therapists, etc.).
  • Provide them with a space within which they can increase their mutual communication and socialization skills and strengthening their acquisition of strategies and processes related to daily activities, with the aid of the Pepper robot, configured as a highly motivating and scalable tool.
  • Collect and analyze environmental and interpersonal data that can often escape subjective observation but which allow to better outline and deepen the functioning profile of the autistic subject.
Pepper explaining an activity

Publications

Sugar, Salt & Pepper - Humanoid robotics for autism


Cristina Gena, Claudio Mattutino, Stefania Brighenti, Andrea Meirone, Francesco Petriglia,Loredana Mazzotta, Federica Liscio, Matteo Nazzario, Valeria Ricci, Camilla Quarato, Cesare Pecone, Giuseppe Piccinni


Socialize Workshop, the first Workshop on SOcial and Cultural IntegrAtion with PersonaLIZEd Interfaces (SOCIALIZE), Intelligent User Interface Conference 2021 (IUI2021)

Autistic Children’s Mental Model of an Humanoid Robot


Cristina Gena, Claudio Mattutino, Andrea Maieli, Elisabetta Miraglio, Giulia Ricciardiello, Rossana Damiano, Alessandro Mazzei.


cAESAR workshop.Adjunct Proceedings of the 29th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP '21 Adjunct)

In partnership with

Team

Cristina Gena

Cristina Gena

Scientific coordinator

Associate Professor at Dept. Computer Science
University of Turin

Claudio Mattutino

Claudio Mattutino

Computer Science Scientist

Dept. Computer Science, University of Turin

Matteo Nazzario

Matteo Nazzario

Project Manager

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center

Valeria Ricci

Valeria Ricci

Project Manager

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center

Fabrizio Serra

Fabrizio Serra

general secretary

Paideia Onlus Foundation

Federica Liscio

Federica Liscio

Professional Educator

Paideia Onlus Foundation

Andrea Meirone

Andrea Meirone

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Therapist

Paideia Onlus Foundation

Loredana Mazzotta

Loredana Mazzotta

Psychotherapist psychologist

Paideia Onlus Foundation

Francesco Petriglia

Francesco Petriglia

Speech Language Therapist

Paideia Onlus Foundation

Stefania Brighenti

Stefania Brighenti

Psychologist

University of Turin

Camilla Quarato

Camilla Quarato

UX/UI Designer

Jumple

Giuseppe Piccinni

Giuseppe Piccinni

Full Stack Developer

Jumple

Cesare Pecone

Cesare Pecone

Product Specialist

Jumple

Andrea Maieli

Andrea Maieli

Trainee

University of Turin

Elisabetta Miraglio

Elisabetta Miraglio

Trainee

University of Turin

Giulia Ricciardiello

Giulia Ricciardiello

Trainee

University of Turin

Contacts

Locations

Unito:

IT Department

University of Turin

Via Pessinetto, 12

10149, Turin (TO), Italy


Paideia:

Paideia Foundation Onlus

Via Moncalvo, 1

10131, Turin (TO), Italy


ISIC:

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center

Corso Inghilterra, 3

10138, Turin (TO), Italy


Jumple:

Jumple

Corso Inghilterra, 3

10138, Turin (TO), Italy


Telephones

Unito:

IT Department

+39 011 670 6827


Paideia:

Paideia Foundation Onlus

+39 011 046 2400