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An educational support tool based on robotic assistants, mobile apps, and expert systems for children with Down syndrome

Abstract:

The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that each year approximately 303,000 newborns die due congenital anomalies. These such of diseases can produce long-term disabilities, and the three most critical congenital anomalies are heart defects, neural tube defects, and Down syndrome (DS). Ecuador is a country with a high prevalence of DS, since 1 out of every 700 children born with this disease. On the other hand, worldwide, the number of children born with DS is 1 per 1,000. For these reasons, in this paper, we present a technological tool aimed at supporting the school curriculum for children from 6 to 12 years with DS. This tool relies on a low-cost robotic assistant, a mobile app, and a module to suggest educational activities for the children. With the aim of determining the children's response to the robot as well as to the mobile application, we have conducted a first pilot experiment with 21 children (without disabilities). Each of the participating children interacted with the system, and after this activity, they responded a survey. The initial results have shown that children are very interested and motivated to perform educational activities with the robot.