Why Would Professionals Choose to Use a Robot with Their Clients with Autism? Applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour to Determine Professionals’ Intentions

Robots are thought to be able to address some of society’s challenges in autism care and education. Robots may extend services and provide them in personalised, repeated, and playful ways. However, it is still largely unknown to what extent professionals intend to use robots and what determines their intentions. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework, we aimed to better understand the determinants behind professionals’ intentions to use robots with their clients with autism. We conducted an online survey, to which 447 professionals (e.g., psychologists) working with people with autism answered. Our results indicate moderate and well-predicted intentions for the enquired professionals to use a robot with their clients with autism. We found that attitude and perceived social norms are the main predictors of their intentions. Our results also point to the significant and positive influence of moral norms on the attitudes of professionals. Additionally, our preliminary analysis of underlying beliefs to the assessed predictors of intention enables a better understanding on how professionals perceive the place of robots in their work. These results can inspire roboticists who want to build assistive robots for the real world and guide stakeholders when implementing such robots in the health and education sectors.