Faculty of Computing

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Author: search.filters.author.Pulasinghe, K

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Adaptive Robotic Voice Modulation for ASD Kids: Tailored Voice Pitch, Tone, and Speed
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025) Panduwawala, P; Pulasinghe, K; Rajapaksha, S
    Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often experience sensory sensitivities, particularly auditory hypersensitivity, which can make interactions and communication challenging. This study explores the customization of the NAO robot's voice pitch, tone, and speech speed using the Kaldi Speech Recognition Toolkit to align with the preferences of children with ASD. Eight distinct voice profiles were created, offering a range of variations in pitch, tone, and speech speed. Parents or caretakers were asked to select the voice profile they felt would be most suitable for their child. Based on this feedback, we created a spectrum of voices tailored to each child's needs. Results indicate that medium-pitch and moderate-speed combinations are most effective in enhancing engagement, with Voice 2 emerging as the preferred profile. The findings underscore the potential of adaptive voice modulation in improving robotic interactions for ASD therapy and highlight opportunities for further research in real-time adaptability and long-term impact assessment.
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    Designing Culturally Adaptive Emotional Gestures to Enhance Child-Robot Interaction with NAO Robots in ASD Therapy
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025) Manukalpa, C.S; Pulasinghe, K; Rajapakshe, S
    Integrating social robots into human-robot interactions demands advancements in natural language processing, navigation, computer vision, and expressive gestures to foster meaningful interactions. However, a gap remains in designing culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate gestures, particularly in the Sri Lankan context. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition impacting early education, often remains underdiagnosed, exacerbating learning challenges. This study introduces a novel approach utilizing robot-child interactions for ASD screening to minimize such delays. Expressive gestures were developed for the NAO6 humanoid robot to engage Sinhala-speaking children aged 2 to 6 years, including those with ASD, in Sri Lanka. Using the NAOqi Python API and Choregraphe simulator, culturally aligned gestures expressing emotions like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and more were designed and synchronized with voice and LED effects. Pilot studies with typical children demonstrated the significance of linguistic and cultural alignment in enhancing engagement, emotional response, and trust. By addressing cultural nuances and advancing early ASD screening, this framework holds potential for broader applications in education, therapy, and diagnosis, improving human-robot interactions globally.
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    Child's Age Range Prediction Using Sinhala Speech Recognition System
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025) Kathriarachchi, A; Pulasinghe, K
    This study predicts the age range of a child speaking Sinhala by analyzing voice characteristics and acoustic features. Identifying speech impairments in children aged 6 to 72 months is critical for early intervention, mainly when using a system that recognizes their native language. The developed system generates accurate insights to assist speech pathologists in diagnosing speech disorders. A Multilayer Perceptron neural network is proposed for age group prediction, leveraging Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and pitch features to enhance recognition accuracy. The system demonstrated an overall accuracy rate of 77% in age range identification, providing a valuable tool for healthcare professionals to evaluate and monitor speech development in Sinhala-speaking children
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    Advancing Speech Therapy for Sinhala-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Through an Intelligent Dialog System
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025) Jayawardena, A; Pulasinghe, K; Rajapakshe, S
    This paper presents a dialog system integrated with a NAO socially assistive robot, designed to support Sinhala-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The system leverages a pipeline-based architecture implemented using the RASA framework, consisting of Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Dialog Management (DMU), and Natural Language Generation (NLG) units. The NLU unit processes user input by identifying intents, entities, and dialogue acts, incorporating custom tools like the SpokenSinhalaVerbTokenizer for handling spoken Sinhala. The DMU includes a Dialog State Tracker (DST) to maintain conversation context and a Dialog Policy Generator, which employs rule-based, TED, and UnexpecTED policies to adapt conversation flows dynamically. The NLG unit generates natural responses to foster interactive and goal-oriented conversations. Integrated with the NAO robot, the system engages children through meaningful dialogues, such as discussing toy preferences, aiming to enhance social interaction and communication skills. This work highlights the potential of conversational AI and robotics in therapeutic interventions for ASD in low-resource languages.