Thessaloniki University presents robot designed to support autistic children
A robot that uses artificial intelligence has been developed by a lab at Macedonia University in northern Greece to provide support to autistic children.
Answering to the name Margarita, it is designed to assist teachers, therapists and doctors in approaching a child with autism. “It is a tool for professionals. The interaction is simpler and [they] can use Margarita as a bridge to complete an educational program, an assessment or make a diagnosis,” the head of the Lires Laboratory in the university’s Education and Social Policy Department, Professor Nikos Fachantidis, told the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
He said that the studies conducted have shown that Margarita can help children learn to interpret emotional cues, with an improvement of social skills that persisted for some time after the intervention. It can converse and it can smile or look serious, depending on the emotions it intends to convey.
The robot had its debut at this year’s Beyond 2023 exhibition at TIF-Helexpo and was the outcome of collaboration initiated in 2017 between Macedonia University and the Lires Laboratory with the companies Cactus SA and Revival Consulting Services SA.
[AMNA]
