In conjunction with the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM), Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Traineeship Program in Human-Centered Robotics, known as Accessibility, Rehabilitation, and Movement Science (ARMS), presents its inaugural Robotics Symposium on Friday, April 21.

The symposium features Vanderbilt's Nilanjan Sarkar delivering a lecture on “The Promise of Robot-Assisted Autism Intervention.”

Light refreshments and a student poster session will follow the lecture.

The event will be held in the Klaus Advanced Computing Building, Room 1116 East, from 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 1 in 68 children in the United States have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD is associated with an enormous individual, familial, and social cost across a lifespan. There is an urgent need for efficacious treatments that can be delivered across resource-strained environments. In this context, robotic technologies may yield intervention platforms with substantial promise for impacting early core symptoms of ASD. This seminar will provide a brief background of robotics research in ASD intervention and then introduce the research on the design and preliminary testing of robotic intervention platforms and environments for young children with ASD at Vanderbilt University.

Bio

Nilanjan Sarkar is a professor of Mechanical Engineering (primary) and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. from the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. He directs the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab and co-directs the Autos Lab at Vanderbilt. Sarkar’s research interests include dynamics, controls, robotics, and human-robot and human-machine interactions. Additionally, he is a fellow of the ASME.