The prevalence of autism has steadily risen over the past decade and it's estimated that now 1 in every 68 children have autism.
This rate is an increase of roughly 30 percent from that which was estimated back in 2008. And the prevalence of autism is on the rise all around the world, not just in the US.
The dramatic increase has been attributed to a number of things, common suggestions for the seeming epidemic are reasons like better diagnosis methods, as well as an increased awareness about autism.
Autism is credited as being the fastest growing developmental disorder in the US.
Meet Milo.
Public schools in Canada are now looking to introduce a humanoid robot known as Milo who can help teach kids with autism.
A pilot program is being launched in the West Vancouver School District and this makes that school district the first in the country to embrace this technology.
Milo is a humanoid robot that gets produced by a Texas company known as RoboKind Robots. It is programmed to help students to learn how to express empathy, learn different emotions, motivate themselves, and act better in social settings.
The robot has reportedly been extremely effective in keeping the children engaged and focused.
Milo is said to be a great compliment to behavioral therapists and teachers who work with those with ASD. He can get them engaged in simple games, emotional exercises, doing math problems, and more.
He isn't the only robot helping in this way, there are other competitors out there as well.
But this is a notable move by the public schools in Canada to embrace this sort of technology in this way and other school districts are allegedly already looking to do the same and get this robot into their classrooms as well.
Pics:
AI Arabiya English
Robots4autism
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
http://globalnews.ca/news/3379183/robots-teach-students-autism-west-vancouver/
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2016/12/12/humanoid-robot-milo-helps-students-autism-williamson-county/94598966/
http://www.kcchronicle.com/2017/03/16/say-hello-to-milo-new-robot-in-d-303-helping-autistic-students/a3vqqm/