Our Current Projects:

Nico, a Robotic Baby When completed, the robot, named Nico, will serve as a test-bed for theories of social learning. Designed to resemble a 9 month-old baby, Nico will be able to take part in standard child psychology experiments, allowing its cognitive models to be tested under the same conditions as undergone by human babies. [summary]

Robots in Autism This project works synergistically with the NIMH-funded Yale Child Study Center STAART projects focused on the early-emerging mechanisms of sociability in toddlers with autism and with the Yale University Department of Computer Science program of humanoid robotics. The purpose of this project is to explore the feasibility of using humanoid robots for the detection of vulnerabilities for autism in the first year of life. [summary]