There’s a new robot in town. Although it looks like any other toy robot, it is more of a companion, especially for children with Autism. Leka, the robot, encourages children with autism to develop social and motor skills by keeping them engaged and active. Leka has several apps that engage children in various activities. The Picture Bingo app, for example, shows them an object (like a banana) on the Leka screen, and asks them to find it. Once found, the child shows it to Leka, and it verifies if the correct object was picked. Hide and go app can be used to play a hide and seek sort of game. One child (or adult) shakes Leka and hides it, and the other child follows the sound that it makes from its hiding spot and goes find it. Several other fun apps guide and motivate the child to perform daily tasks through pictograms and verbal instructions.
Leka can be used by parents, caregivers and therapists to enable the child to develop several cognitive, motor, emotional, and social skills through play. Each app allows difficulty and guidance levels to be customized, and if the child is sensitive to certain lights or sounds, those can be turned off as well. Upcoming features (in 2018) include providing data to parents and therapists so they could see the progress the child is making.
Leka is priced at $490, and can be pre-ordered from their Indiegogo page. Watch the video below, and visit their Indiegogo page to learn more about Leka.
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Source: Fast Company
