Timothy Gifford has parlayed a fascination with all things robotic and a gift with software into his own company, Movia Robotics LLC, that’s doing research that could help autistic children.
“I want to bring new robotic technology to tools for learning, training and therapy applications for non-roboticists,” says Gifford, owner and CEO of Movia Robotics LLC in Hartford.
Armed with an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in computer and film technology, Gifford began his doctoral studies at U Conn. He was doing collaborative work about perceptions and reactions, trying to make robots more human like. In looking at the problem, he saw potential for interacting with autistic children. The problems with autistic kids, he explains, are similar to the issues he was facing in how people perceive and interact with robots.
He has formed Movia as a therapeutic robotics systems development company serving clinicians, therapists and educators who service children with disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ultimate goal: to open the doors of communication between the ASD child and the world.
His systems can afford those with disorders (particularly ASD) with new tools. The ultimate goal is to have the robot open the doors of communication between the autistic child and the world. The autistic child is often more comfortable with inanimate objects, so this robot can introduce interval communication skills at a pace where the autistic child may not be overwhelmed and therefore be much more able to interact. The robot also has capabilities to record interactions for the therapist or even the family members to use to continue to develop more complex treatment plans at the pace of the individual child.
“I could do some good for clinicians and therapists and build basic tools for robotic interaction,” adds Gifford. “It will be turn-key technology a person can use in a simple way to engage, educate, and help gain skills to improve behavior. “
Gifford’s research work is with Anjana Bhat, an assistant professor of kinesiology at UConn. They are working on a clinical research project funded by a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant.
“Our principal investigation is of robot/child interaction in a treatment context,” says Bhat.
They studied children ages 4 to 8, three of whom have autism. Both healthy and autistic children found it engaging to interact with the robot, but lost interest if the programming was repetitive.
The original $400 seven-inch robot was replaced with a $15,000 two-foot high robot with more advanced functions. GIfford is engineering the software with an increased variety of interactions to hold the children’s attention over a period of weeks and months. The hope is to engage autistic children more so they may be able to learn simple tasks and then compound tasks like tying shoe laces or buttoning a shirt.
They have found improvement in interaction and imitation of movement in healthy kids and imitation of movement in autistic kids. Imitation of movement is thought to be the foundation for learning movements.
They are still studying this issue, and though excited, are still in the testing phase and have not proven efficacy of the approach.
The next phase is a study of autistic children with the control group receiving regular school interactions, while the second group receives regular school interactions plus robot interactions.
“We’ll see if the control group or the robot wins,” offers Bhat.
“I can do some good for clinicians and therapists and build basic tools for robotic interactions,” says Gifford. “It‘s very rewarding, the win of working with kids is greater than the original problem of making robots more human-like.”
It’s also the basis of his business venture, Movia Robotics LLC, which has three employees plus contract workers.
“It’s been very exciting,” Gifford notes, “working toward a practical application. This is a way to create jobs and help kids.”
“I’m looking at other applications for opportunities in demonstrations and events with multiple robots working with large crowds and kids at museums or special events,” offers Gifford. “I expect to be working on two levels; robots designed for engagement and learning, and those for therapeutic applications in therapy.”
“In the next 10 years I expect the focus will be on kids with other problems and on achieving a level of more accessibility as the price of robots comes down. Robots will be more humanoid and used in healthcare and service applications;” says Gifford, “while non-humanoid robots will be used in applications like farming, where they can do the bending, lifting and repetitive work jobs that are hard on people.”
In addition to his company and working on this research grant at UConn, Gifford is director of the Advanced Interactive Technology Center at the university’s Center for Health Intervention and Prevention. There he provides members of the university community access to technology such as robotics, sensors, simulation, virtual reality and advanced computing for use in their research.
He has collaborated with leading researchers in several fields which has lead to the generation of useful applications. The university services, including the Tech-Knowledge Portal, the Center for Science and Technology Commercialization, the CCEI Innovation Accelerator, the Technology Incubation Program and the IP Law Clinic, “have helped me to rapidly commercialize the IP we created,” notes Gifford. “I am very grateful for the help and support that the university has provided me in my endeavors.”
Gifford has found that being able to work within U Conn and its research community and then with the state’s Economic Development Services has been fruitful. It gave him the opportunity to put his ideas into practice. The original grant was from stimulus funding in 2009, with an extra round of research from NIMH funding.
