Learning through play with a robot companion

In this paper we present an exploratory study conducted in a primary school concerning the use of a robot companion designed to support children with special needs in achieving educational objectives through play. IROMEC is a mobile robotic platform developed to become a social mediator encouraging children with distinct levels of disabilities to discover a range of different play styles. In fact children with disabilities are often prevented from playing due to their impairment. This limitation can seriously hamper their future development. Four children with different levels of disabilities, from cognitive disabilities to motor impairments, joined the study. The main aim of the research was to investigate the effectiveness of the robot in supporting the achievement of educational objectives in five developmental areas: Sensory, Communication and Interaction, Social and Emotional, Cognitive and Motor. Different methods were used to collect the data in order to evaluate the improvement of the children. The preliminary results obtained from the analysis are encouraging in terms of learning and enjoyment for children. We recorded some remarkable changes in terms of development for all the children and most of the improvements have been observed in the motor development area. Playing with IROMEC was an amazing and pleasurable experience for them since they could play a major role in the game and act as equal partners among their peers.