The final presentation event of the 5A (Autonomies for Autism through Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Conversational Agents) project will be held at the Politecnico di Milano on Friday March 31, 2023 at 2.30 p.m.

The 5A project, co-financed by the TIM Foundation as part of the call “Free to communicate. Intelligent technologies and innovation for autism”, explored a set of innovative technological solutions aimed at improving the autonomy of people with autism spectrum disorders through the use of virtual reality, augmented reality and conversational agents.

5A virtual reality applications allow users to practice the use of public transport by "immersing" in a digital environment that simulates spaces and activities typical of trains and subways. 5A augmented reality applications support users while using public transport in the real world, generating information on tablets or smartphones that appears superimposed on the surrounding environment and helps people understand how to get around and what to do. Both types of applications integrate a conversational agent that acts as a virtual companion and proactively talks with the user to guide her both during the simulation and during the experience in the real world.

5A applications were co-designed by a multidisciplinary team made up of engineers and interaction designers from the Politecnico di Milano and autism specialists from the two clinical partners: Fondazione Sacra Famiglia and Associazione Nostra Famiglia – IRCCS Medea. Rigorous experimentation was carried out at the centers of these partners to empirically evaluate the usability and effectiveness of 5A tools.

At the end of two years of intense and exciting work, the final event of the 5A project aims to present and discuss the results achieved, as well as demonstrate the 5A applications allowing participants to use them. The event has an informative nature and is aimed at anyone interested in the topic of autism and the potential that interactive technologies can offer in this field: healthcare operators who deal with autism spectrum disorders, school operators and staff of support centers for inclusion, people with autism spectrum disorder and their family members.

The event will be held in Italian. For organizational reasons, registration is required using this link: https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-evento-finale-progetto-5a-547842310097

For further information visit the website https://5a.polimi.it/