Using a humanoid robot to promote inclusion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in mainstream classrooms: An overview of the RoBò service delivery approach.

In this contribution we present RoBò, a multidisciplinary service delivery approach developed to support teachers in the use of social robots to promote inclusion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in school settings. RoBò is composed of four steps which are briefly illustrated by reporting on the case of Alice, a six-year-old girl with a diagnosis of ASD without intellectual disability. Although RoBò is in its experimental stage, preliminary results are encouraging and show that it may be helpful in increasing opportunities for social interaction and inclusion of children with ASD in non-controlled environments. Research is underway to prove its effectiveness in supporting teaching practices targeting children with special educational needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]