Three Study Cases of Social Robotics in Autism Spectrum Disorder Treatment: Personalization and Usability of CASTOR Robot.

Social assistive robotics in autism has been implemented in studies and therapies to improve social skills and encourage children to comply with therapies. However, autism symptoms vary in their spectrum, which generates difficulties in implementing social robotics in a general way. In this study, the CASTOR social robot was implemented in three cases: one case of autism fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria and two cases with comorbidities typically excluded in social robotic studies. A pre and post-test professional evaluations were made, and 12 variables about social skills were measured during the implementation. Four sessions of 30 minutes were performed for each study case, improving focal attention, following instructions, working and procedure memory, identifying emotions, and physical and verbal imitation. Regarding the qualification method used at the Howard Gardner Clinic for each speciality, the most remarkable improvements were P1 increased by 20% in physiotherapy, P2 increased by 23% in psychology and P3 increased by 10% in occupational therapy. The pre and posttest results indicate that the presence of the social robot in therapies improves children's progress independently of their qualities.