From WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh:PITTSBURGH -- He's an Internet sensation -- millions of people logging on to watch him dance his way around the screen -- but there's more to this robot than meets the eye.
The first video of the Keepon robot dancing wasn't intended to go public, but it went viral and landed on the front page of YouTube.
Marek Michalowski, a research and doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, co-created Keepon (pictured) with his mentor Hideki Kozima, with the aim of studying children with autism."The idea behind this robot is that it is so simple that they can easily understand the attention and the emotion that it expresses," said Michalowski.
Keepon's eyes serve as cameras and his nose as a microphone.
He has four ranges of motion -- bouncing, swiveling and rocking from side to side and tipping to the front and back.
"I can't imagine a child with autism on any level of the spectrum that wouldn't relate in some way. It gets into them in a way unlike anything else I've ever seen," said Dan Torisky, whose son is autistic.
Researchers can change Keepon's movement based on how the children react.
"A child that comes up to Keepon and starts making faces to it acts kind of goofy. The teacher says, 'I never see that sort of thing,' because they feel a certain comfort with the robot as opposed to a self-consciousness with other people," said Michalowski.
Channel 4 Action News anchor Kelly Frey took Keepon to the Autism Society of Pittsburgh in Monroeville, where the tiny 5-inch robot was introduced to 16-year-old L.J.
L.J. caressed the robot and started talking to him before asked to share Keepon.
Another boy at the Autism Society, "Robert," looked perplexed at first, but went on to gently touch Keepon before letting out a laugh and giving the robot a kiss.
"Just because they are diagnosed with autism doesn't mean that they aren't intelligent. They're very intelligent. It is just kind of lost in their own mind, and with the robot, it brings it out and it shows the connection," said Autism Society CEO Michelle Johnson.
Seeing children with autism form such a quick bond with Keepon brought many adults and parents at the Autism Society to tears.
"We don't know what to expect with our kids, but I think the fact that there were so many adults in the room -- the camera -- and the kids zeroed in on Keepon like it was the only thing in the room," said Lu Randall of the Autism Society of Pittsburgh.
Michalowski is continuing his research and has formed a company, BeatBots LLC.