Human Posture Recognition and Gesture Imitation with a Humanoid Robot

Autism is a highly variable neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication , and by restricted and repetitive behavior. The problematic point concerning this neuro-developmental disorder is its causes which are unknown till now, and therefore it cannot be treated medically. Recently, robots have been involved in the development of the social behavior of autistic children who showed a better interaction with robots than with their peers. One of the striking social impairments that is widely described in autism literature is the deficit of imitating the others. Trying to make use of this point, therapists and robotic researchers have been interested in designing triadic interactional (Human-Robot-Child) imitation games, in which the therapists starts to perform a gesture then the robot imitates it, and then the child tries to do the same, hoping that these games will encourage the autistic child to repeat these new gestures in his daily social life.