Humanoid Robots

Scientific Literature

“More social interactions and better verbal communication (30% increase) have been observed when a robot was present in the same room. The improvement was not only noticeable in interactions with the robot, but in subsequent interactions with their parents and therapists”

(M.Stanton, National Autistic society, 2008).

The humanoid robot adapts to the design needs for autism therapy that requires robot dimensions equal to or smaller than that of a human child (Giullian, Ricks, Atherton, Colton, Goodrich and Brinton, 2010).
For the development of social skills (Michaud and Théberge-Turmel, 2002; Adams and Robinson, 2011),
For the development of communication skills (Boccanfuso and O’Kane, 2011; Kozima, Nakagawa and Yasuda 2005),
For the development of exploratory behaviors (Costa, Santos, Soares, Ferreira and Moreira, 2010)
For early diagnosis (Bekele, Lahiri, Davidson, Warren and Sarkar, 2011; Dickstein-Fischer, Alexander, Yan, Su, Harrington, and Fischer 2011) in children with autism.

Several research paths have been undertaken to evaluate social robots, in particular:

For the development of social skills (Gillesen, Boere and Barakova, 2010)
For the development of postural expressions (Erden and Tapus, 2010)
To increase sociability (Carey and Markoff, 2010)
For understanding gestures and facial expressions
For the diagnosis of ASD (Bekele, Lahiri, Davidson, Warren and Sarkar, 2011)

Manage the innovation

Digital therapy via a human-machine interface that simplifies the use of even more robots and which allows:

Robot Assisted Therapy and activity planning
Robot management and teleoperation
Data acquisition
Data processing
Data representation

Evaluation of the therapeutic-didactic plan

RoboMate, has thus obtained awards and recognitions from prestigious realities including:

The activity is entirely focused on the man-machine relationship in which the robot is not seen as a foreign entity but enters more and more into everyone’s daily life until it can be considered an innovative support in the treatment of autism, and for the support of Older people. The TREAT Project (Therapeutic Robot in Experimental Autism Therapy), also awarded by the startup incubator “Working Capital Telecom” in 2013, was born with this aim: it is an initiative aimed at creating a new experimental therapy for the treatment autism. It is based on the platform we invented “RoboMate ©” and on the programming of robots using some software made exclusively by our team, with the support of universities, research centers, teachers, doctors, and pedagogists.
The research team immediately realized how useful humanoid robots can be in the study of treatments concerning behavioral disorders. Thus began a path of study of specific cases and development of further applications for the various social robots, through “RoboMate”.

RoboMate, has thus obtained awards and recognitions from prestigious realities including:

2013: Grant of 25,000 euros from Working Capital Telecom;
2014: National Order of Engineers (3rd place at the Scintille’14 Award);
2014: Speaker “TEDx TransMedia” Geneva;
2014: “Tecnologia Solidale” guests, Chamber of Deputies;
2014: Finalists in the “Startup of the year – Science and Technology Parks award”, School
Sant’Anna University of Pisa;
2015: “Lions Day Award 2015” for technological innovation;
2015: “Feste Archimedee 2015” Award for social innovation.
2015: Finalists and TOP25 world company at the Interface Health Excellence Challenge Toronto contest
2015: Speaker “TEDx Matera”;
2015: Speaker “TEDx Assisi”;
2015: Guests “Revolution”, TV2000, television network of the Bishops’ Conference;
2015: Guests “I Fatti Vostri”, Rai Due;
2018: Second place “Digital Heart” Award Senate of the Italian Republic;
2018: Interview and weekly news about medicine of TG3, RAI Tre;
2019: Sixth Network Interview
2019: Videostar Interview.
2020: TG1 Medicina Service, RAI Uno;

Always active in the field of research, together with the Kore University of Enna, in July 2015 we presented a research document, in the form of a poster, entitled “TESTING THE FEASIBILITY OF A SOCIAL ROBOT DELIVERED CONDITIONAL DISCRIMINATION TRAINING.
ACBS World Conference 13 – Berlin 2015 “

Currently our “RoboMate” platform with more than 100 installations, (as of 2021), is in use in hospitals, health centers, research centers, social cooperatives, therapists, schools.

Some references:
2016: ASP of Catania, Provincial Health Authority
2018: “Cerradi” Center Trieste, IT
2019: IRCCS, Institute of Hospitalization and Scientific Care, Neurolesi “Bonino Pulejo” Messina
2019: ANFASS, Teramo Headquarters, IT
2020: “Villa delle Ginestre”, Rehabilitation Center, Volla, NA, IT
2020: IRCCS, Institute of Ric. and Scientific Care “House for Relief of Suffering”, San Giovanni Rotondo FG, IT
2020: Santa Caterina Novella Hospital in Galatina, ASL Lecce, IT
2021: Spazio Autismo, Mantua, IT

Virtual reality and augmented reality.

Development of virtual reality solutions for serious games, entertainment and healthcare. In collaboration with IESCUM and Kore University, we have developed a solution for the therapy of psychological trauma, and in July 2015 we presented a research paper, in the form of a poster, entitled “Virtual defusion is real defusion?” at the ACBS World Conference 13 – Berlin 2015.

Together with the University of Messina, in 2015, we developed a solution for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

In 2015, we began the development of an application, NiWell, in the wellness field, for the use of immersive virtual reality in fitness activities such as exercise bikes, steppers, treadmills, rowing machines. Niwell made it to the finals at the prestigious Technogym competition in 2015.

In 2016, we participated in the first “Scholas Labs Jam” wanted by Pope Francis, through “Scholas Occurrentes”, a body of pontifical right, creating the “SmartSpace” project for a school without virtual reality walls.

This love story begins with a passion rooted in our childhood: Marco and I, like many brothers, identified ourselves from an early age in the exploits of Daisuke, Hiroshi, Tetsuya and those who, since the end of the 70s, were animating those legendary Robots who in every episode they fought the forces of evil … Over the years our passion has led us to “command” even in reality our small fleet of robots (committing ourselves with dedication in the fight against an evil of our days).
In 2012 we created Behavior Labs srl: an innovative startup based in Catania to “give a soul” to a humanoid robot; the aim is in fact that automata and humans can coexist harmoniously in the name of mutual utility through edutainment and digital health solutions.
Our laboratories, strengthened by research and experimentation in the field, have quickly carved out an increasingly important position in the world of so-called “Health robotics” which today has to study disorders such as autism, developmental and behavioral deficits. Thanks to the consolidated partnership with the Kore University of Enna, with IESCUM, (European Institute for the study of human behavior), our reality – which studies to program the behavior of robots – is always looking for solutions that can improve quality. of the life of human beings.
The activity is entirely focused on the man-machine relationship in which the robot is not seen as a foreign entity but enters more and more into everyone’s daily life until it can be considered an innovative support in the treatment of autism, and for the support of Older people. The TREAT Project (Therapeutic Robot in Experimental Autism Therapy), also awarded by the startup incubator “Working Capital Telecom” in 2013, was born with this aim: it is an initiative aimed at creating a new experimental therapy for the treatment autism. It is based on the platform we invented “RoboMate ©” and on the programming of robots using some software made exclusively by our team, with the support of universities, research centers, teachers, doctors, and pedagogists.
The research team immediately realized how useful humanoid robots can be in the study of treatments concerning behavioral disorders. Thus began a path of study of specific cases and development of further applications for the various social robots, through “RoboMate”.