Communication using robots: a Perception-action scenario in moderate ASD

ASD children are characterised by a lack of intentionality. We analysed nonverbal and verbal information, associated with heart rate and emotional feeling, respectively, in ASD and neurotypical children. Analogies of heart rate between ASD and neurotypical children were expressed when the human was passive' actor and the robot was active' actor; disanalogies were released when the human was active' actor. Only ASD children reported better emotional feeling after' than before' the interaction with the robot. These results suggest that ASD children might be more reliable to low-level intentionality represented by robots, than to high-level intentionality associated with humans.