If you know 23-year-old John Ryan Lee, then you know about his robots. He’ll spend hours in a day, perfectly content, tinkering away at old electrical parts.
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It has just nine moving joints — a number that might underwhelm robotics buffs. But Cosmo’s potential to help children has caught the attention of Minnesota’s globally-acclaimed Mayo Clinic.

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A new device helps people with Asperger’s or autism interpret expressions of emotion

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MIT has recently published course materials from its Fall 2007 course on Autism and Technology. The course aims to lay a foundation in autism theory and autism technology that significantly leverages and expands the MIT Media Lab’s ability to pioneer new technology. The course is available at no cost.

From ScienceDaily,
“Papers delivered at three conferences in the US and Europe this summer report on new research at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering studying interactions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with bubble-blowing robots.”

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Therapeutic Systems, a concept business thought up by U of Mass at Amherst doctoral student Brian Mullen, won the $50,000 grand prize at the May 8 Technology Innovation Challenge (TIC).

Therapeutic Systems plans to market a novel “deep-pressure vest,” developed in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, that improves mental healthcare and the quality of life for people with mental illness, especially autism, by providing a “portable hug.” An estimated 3 million to 4 million patients suffer from developmental disorders such as autism.

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The ability to detect autism in children as young as nine months of age is on the horizon, according to researchers at McMaster University.

The Early Autism Study, led by Mel Rutherford, associate professor of psychology in the Faculty of Science, has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while the babies look at faces, eyes, and bouncing balls on a computer screen.

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Recent research conducted at the University of Haifa found that children with autism improved their road safety skills after practicing with a unique virtual reality system. “Children with autism rarely have opportunities to experience or to learn to cope with day-to-day situations. Using virtual simulations such as the one used in this research enables them to acquire skills that will make it possible for them to become independent,” said Profs. Josman and Weiss, from the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa.
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Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health are using the Second Life web-based virtual-world program to help asperger’s patients learn social skills and interactions. But skeptics think that using the computer is not a sufficient tool to prepare for the real world. Read the complete story here.

A new site from Autism Speaks presents a library of video clips of behavior of autistic children in direct contrast with typical child behavior. The clips allow parents and teachers to better identify potential signs of autism. See the video glossary here.