Several studies report that people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have low employment rates and major difficulties in maintaining occupation (Hendricks, 2010). Adopting smart and interactive technology, promoted by Industry 4.0, can be a valid solution to improve social inclusion in the workplace. The present work describes the design and development process of the multimodal device (A)MICO (acronym for 'A Multimodal device to improve inclusive Interaction between Cobot and Operator'), aimed to improve the user experience of ASD workers interacting with collaborative robots (cobots) in production lines. (A)MICO proposes a new intuitive mode of communication in which information about the cobot activity is transferred through acoustic and visual feedback. Lights and sounds are designed to make the user aware of the cobot's activity and gain control of the situation. To define the optimal feedback configuration, a co-design process has been performed involving five users with high functioning autism (HFA). The inclusion of users with HFA in the design process allows to analyse the system from different perspectives and increase the acceptance of the final product (Francis et al., 2009). In addition, (A)MICO is designed to be integrated into a pre-existing cobot system and its feedback can be customized making job tasks more human-friendly and accessible to all. To achieve this purpose, Design for All principles were taken into consideration since the preliminary stages of the study, in order to develop a device that could represent a valuable aid in improving the well-being and productivity for both neurotypical and neurodiverse users.

翻译：多项研究报告指出，被诊断患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的人群就业率较低，且在维持职业方面存在重大困难（Hendricks, 2010）。采用工业4.0所倡导的智能交互技术，可成为改善职场社会包容性的有效解决方案。本研究描述了多模态设备（A）MICO（"用于改善操作员与协作机器人包容性交互的多模态设备"的缩写）的设计与开发过程，旨在提升ASD工作者在生产线上与协作机器人（cobot）交互时的用户体验。（A）MICO提出了一种新型直观通信模式，通过声学与视觉反馈传递协作机器人活动的信息。灯光与声音的设计旨在使使用者感知机器人的活动状态，并增强对情境的控制感。为确定最优反馈配置，本研究开展了协同设计过程，邀请了五名高功能自闭症（HFA）患者参与。将HFA患者纳入设计过程，有助于从不同视角分析系统，并提高最终产品的接受度（Francis et al., 2009）。此外，（A）MICO设计为可集成至现有协作机器人系统中，其反馈可定制，使得工作任务更具人性化且更易被所有人接受。为此，本研究从初始阶段即遵循"面向所有人的设计"原则，旨在开发一种能够同时提升神经典型与神经多样化使用者福祉与生产力的辅助设备。