Feb 15 2018
Company Chooses AUTISM TODAY to Launch Its “INSPIRE ME. I AM A UNIQUE CHILD.” Awareness Program Company Launches the “AMBASSADOR” Program to Facilitate Individuals, Foundations and Corporate Sponsors to Donate a Robot to Make a Difference in the Lives of autistic Children, their schools and families.
ChartaCloud today announced the introduction of its NAO robot-based solution package for use in providing autism intervention therapies for children diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum or having Asperger's Syndrome. The NAO robot is a product of SoftBank Robotics. The Robot-mediated Behavior Intervention (RMBI) solution from ChartaCloud enables therapists and educators to utilize the NAO robot to deliver pre-established robot intervention behaviors and/or create unique behavior intervention sessions for children under their care.
"With 1 in 65 children diagnosed on the spectrum we need significant improvement in intervention therapies. The evidence is very clear regarding the benefits of robot-mediated behavior intervention (RMBI) and is demonstrative of the new frontiers being conquered when and where technology is focused on the autism challenge. As a society, I believe that we are not addressing the autism challenge at a rate significant enough to affect the alarming expansion in the number of children impacted," said Michael Radice, chairman technology advisory board, ChartaCloud.
The company stated that the driving factors behind RMBI are that many children trust robots more than humans, that the robots never tire in their task and they don't unknowingly express signals of frustration, such as changes in facial expression and voice tonality which are so easily detected by children.
"What must be kept in mind is that autism is not a disease and that each child diagnosed as being on the spectrum is a unique person. The use of the robot enables therapists and educators to customize sessions to the differing needs and the learning pace of each child. When utilized with proper, professionally diagnosed and knowledgeable goal setting and results tracking, more children can be better served," Radice added.
The company further stated that it has chosen AUTISM TODAY, one of the autism world's leading and most respected autism information resources since 1998, for announcing its "Inspire Me. I Am a Unique Child." awareness program for Robot-mediated Behavior Intervention.
"I am thrilled with the advances in ROBOTTECA's robot-based technology designed to help with the social engagement of children with autism to such a high degree. I believe in my heart that it will truly change the future for people with autism and those who care for them forever," said Karen Simmons, founder, ceo, Autism Today.
"We organized and hosted the first workshop that brought together leading clinicians and researchers to share their RMBI experiences and results. That was the seminal event when we positively knew we were making a difference," Radice added.
"From a technology perspective we chose the NAO robot because of its unique and engaging persona. NAO is in use in over 50 countries, speaks 19 languages and with over 10,000 NAO robots in use in multiple use cases, NAO has proven itself to be an industrial-grade platform in the class of Social Robots. Perhaps most importantly, children just love NAO!" said Lauryn Schimmel, managing director, ChartaCloud.