Robotic Technologies in ADHD Care: Literature Review

Abstract

Robotics has made it possible to change and improve many support processes for vulnerable people in different settings. In recent years, its use has been oriented toward supporting therapeutic interventions of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This review of the literature highlights how advances in robotics have evolved in different scenarios of ADHD treatment, its collaboration with other emerging technologies, its results, its limitations, and the research challenges for the future development of robotics in the field of supporting children with ADHD. The authors conducted a literature review based on the location of keywords 'robotics' and several NNDs such as 'ADHD', 'Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)', 'cerebral palsy', and 'dementia' in titles, abstracts, and introduction of scientific articles in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) database. The reviewed literature was classified according to the type of therapy supported by the robots, the type of robot and the associated technologies. From this analysis, we can solve the research question: Which types of robots have the potential for specific applications in ADHD treatment? Furthermore, this article shows that despite favorable technical results, robotic technologies that support ADHD therapies require significant improvements in terms of scalability, human-machine interaction, and treatment and processing of acquired information to be applied effectively in real-world therapies. The most significant research challenges are proposed to drive research efforts to develop new approaches to enable robotic assistants to participate in ADHD therapies.

Exploring the Potential of Augmented Reality Games for Managing Autism and ADHD: A Promising Alternative Approach

“…These include the Internet of Things (IoT), Arti cial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Robotics [16,18,19,20,21,22,24]. This article concentrates on offering a synopsis of the utilization of enhanced reality (AR) technology [13] in the setting of ADHD recovery, particularly from the outlook of patients.…”

“…These forms consist of: The purpose of ADHD therapies is to prevent academic failure and to deal with the social issues that come along with the illness. Emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Arti cial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Robotics have been used as supplements to nonpharmacological therapies, such as psychological, psychoeducational, and occupational therapies, in recent years [16,18,19,20,21,22,24]. The use of robotic aid in speech therapy programs for children with ADHD has demonstrated promise.…”

Deep learning speech recognition for residential assistant robot

“…Nowadays, the development of intelligent environments is gaining strength, including smart homes [16]. Robotic technology has been included in these environments with different fronts such as people care [17], cleaning [18] and even cooking [19]. In [20] and [21], the development of assistive robots to address patient isolations by COVID is exposed, however, the development is oriented to systems telecommanded by cellular mobile equipment.…”

Deep Learning-Based ADHD and ADHD-RISK Classification Technology through the Recognition of Children’s Abnormal Behaviors during the Robot-Led ADHD Screening Game

“…Methods using the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and robots are being studied as nonpharmacological ADHD treatment methods. Particularly, many methods for treating ADHD using robots are being developed [ 11 ]. Representative examples are NAO, Pepper [ 12 ], Silbot [ 13 , 14 ], Sanbot Elf [ 15 ], and Bioloid humanoid robot [ 16 ].…”

“…Representative examples are NAO, Pepper [ 12 ], Silbot [ 13 , 14 ], Sanbot Elf [ 15 ], and Bioloid humanoid robot [ 16 ]. The aforementioned robots help children with ADHD through speech therapy development, motor skills therapy, traditional therapeutic improvement, attention and memory therapy, and so on [ 11 ]. Although there are various nonpharmacological treatment methods for ADHD using robots, research on ADHD diagnosis using robots is limited.…”