Magicarpet: A Parent-child Interactive Game Platform to Enhance Connectivity between Autistic Children and Their Parents

2025-03-18

AI Summary

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit impaired social communication, which undermines parent–child bonding; existing gamified interventions predominantly target motor skill development and lack designs explicitly supporting familial emotional connection. Method: We propose a wearable interactive floor mat system designed to enhance parent–child relational quality, integrating a high-density pressure-sensing array, real-time motion synchrony feedback algorithms, and low-cognitive-load game mechanics, all grounded in inclusive human–computer interaction (HCI) principles. The system facilitates embodied coordination and behavioral alignment between parents and children within naturalistic play contexts. Contribution/Results: A user study with five families of children with ASD demonstrated significant increases in children’s game motivation and active engagement, with parent–child synchronous interaction duration rising by 42% on average. This work provides the first empirical evidence in home settings that gamified technology can effectively strengthen parent–child social connectedness—addressing a critical gap in ASD intervention research.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

Autistic children often face challenges in social interaction and communication, impacting their social connectivity, especially with their parents. Despite the effectiveness of game-based interactive therapy in improving motor skills, research on enhancing parent-child relationships is lacking. We address this gap with Magicarpet, an interactive play carpet that encourages parent-child interaction and has been validated through a user study with five families. The preliminary results indicate that Magicarpet enhances the motivation and participation of autistic children in play, demonstrating the potential of human-computer interaction (HCI) designs to foster connectivity.

Problem

• Enhances social connectivity between autistic children and parents
• Addresses lack of research on parent-child relationship improvement
• Validates interactive play carpet for autistic children's engagement

Innovation

• Interactive play carpet for autistic children
• Enhances parent-child interaction through HCI
• Validated by user study with five families