Co-designing Robot Dogs with and for Neurodivergent Individuals: Opportunities and Challenges
Ha-Kyung Kong, Derek Xie, Ankith Chandra, Rachel Lowy, Arielle F Maignan, Sehoon Ha, Chung Hyuk Park, Jennifer G Kim · 2024 · ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility · doi:10.1145/3663548.3675603
Summary
This paper explores how robot dogs might support the daily lives of neurodivergent individuals through a series of three co-design workshops conducted over five weeks. While social robots have been studied in clinical and educational settings for neurodivergent populations, their potential roles in everyday life remain underexplored. The researchers recruited eight neurodivergent participants (with conditions including autism, ADHD, anxiety, and depression) and facilitated structured interactions with commercially available quadruped robot dogs (Unitree Go1 and Go2). Each workshop followed a consistent format: participants first interacted with the robots through activities like walking, petting, and playing fetch, then provided feedback through guided discussions. The study used a participatory design approach, positioning neurodivergent individuals as expert collaborators rather than passive subjects. Across the workshops, participants brainstormed and refined use cases for robot dogs, evaluated robot behaviours and appearances, and explored how robots should communicate failures. The researchers collected data through video recordings, field notes, surveys measuring robot acceptance (UTAUT2 framework), and thematic analysis of participant feedback. A distinctive aspect of this study was its attention to how robot failures — such as falling over or not responding to commands — affected participants emotionally, with some interpreting mechanical malfunctions as personal rejection.
Key findings
Participants demonstrated high acceptance levels toward robot dogs across all workshops, with scores consistently above the midpoint on the UTAUT2 scale. They envisioned use cases spanning three categories: practical needs (carrying items, navigation assistance, medication reminders), emotional needs (companionship, comfort during meltdowns, anxiety reduction), and social needs (conversation starters, facilitating social interactions, reducing stigma around disability). A critical finding was that robot failures had outsized emotional impacts on some neurodivergent participants — one participant interpreted a robot falling over as the robot rejecting them, leading to visible distress. This highlighted the need for carefully designed failure communication strategies. Participants preferred robots that acknowledged failures transparently (e.g., saying "I am having trouble, can you help me?") rather than ignoring errors or shutting down. The research also revealed that being in a caregiving role toward the robot — helping it when it fell, guiding it — was experienced positively, giving participants a sense of competence and reciprocity. Participants favoured robot appearances that were clearly mechanical rather than overly lifelike, avoiding the uncanny valley.
Relevance
This research has significant implications for how assistive technologies are designed for neurodivergent users. The finding that robot failures can be interpreted as social rejection underscores the importance of designing failure states with the same care as success states — a principle applicable far beyond robotics to any interactive technology used by neurodivergent individuals. The study models exemplary participatory design practice by centering neurodivergent voices throughout the process and treating participants as design partners. For accessibility practitioners, the three-category framework of practical, emotional, and social needs provides a useful lens for evaluating any assistive technology. The caregiving dynamic — where users benefit from helping the robot — challenges conventional assumptions that assistive technology should only flow assistance in one direction, suggesting that reciprocal relationships with technology can be empowering.
Tags: neurodiversity · social robotics · co-design · participatory design · autism · ADHD · emotional support · human-robot interaction