Professor Catherine So Wing-chee and her team from our Faculty’s Department of Educational Psychology have been awarded the “Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Award 2022” from the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), for their innovative educational modal "Robot for Autism Behavioral Intervention®"(RABI®). The award is known as the "Oscar Award" in the field of information and communication technology, and Prof So’s team is the only team from Hong Kong to receive the honour.

RABI®, launched in 2016, is an effective robot-based intervention programme designed for individuals aged 3-18 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It makes use of robots to help  enhance the social inclusion of autistic children and improve their  social, behavioural and communications skills as well as self-care abilities. The programme is available in Cantonese, Mandarin and Englishand has served 2,200 autistic children from Hong Kong, Macau, the United Kingdom and Australia.

“The chance to compete with ICT experts around the globe”, said Professor So, “is a recognition of the team’s constant efforts to research and introduce robots to the education of autistic children." She hopes that there will be more advanced technologies to assist special education in the future and to enhance the learning experience of children with autism so that more families can benefit.

For more information, please visit the website of the CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office: https://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/tc/press/cuhks-innovative-social-robot-intervention-programme-for-autistic-children-carries-off-runner-up-at-2022-witsa-global-innovation-and-tech-excellence-awards/