"Sorry to Disturb You": Autism and Robot Interruptions

Peter E. McKenna, Ingo Keller, Jose L. Part, Mei Yii Lim, Ruth Aylett, Frank Broz, Gnanathusharan Rajendran

Abstract: Here, we present a novel experiment on the yet unstudied phenomenon of ASC adults' responses to interruption, using a robot role-play clerical task. Using an IQ, gender, and task parameter matched NT control sample, we found that adults with ASC experience marginally less task disruption from a robot interrupter comparatively to a human. We surmise that robot-assisted therapy for adults with the condition is a potential research avenue worth further exploration.