Robot ‘could teach autistic adults’

A robot which teaches people key facial expressions could help boost the employment outlook for autistic adults, researchers have claimed.

The UK unemployment rate is 4.4 per cent but just 14 per cent of autistic adults have a full-time job. Researchers at Edinburgh’s Heriot-watt University have developed a robot called Alyx to teach people to recognise social cues. Alyx displays approving or disapproving facial signals to help adults with autism deal with social signals in workplace situations.