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Miruna's idea of a neurodivergent creature with OCD, made me think of a creature with autism.
There are a number of bots that are designed to help people with autism. QTrobot is an expressive humanoid robot designed to help children with special needs, including ASD. QTrobot helps autistic children with fun activities to develop their speech and social-emotional skills. The value of QTrobot comes from it's engaging, tireless, exagerated, and above all, consistent interactions,. This allows children with autism to practice skills in an ideal environment.
NAO is another robot that was designed to help students on the autism spectrum by developing their social, communication and academic skills. It fosters engagement, reduces anxiety, and empowers educators to deliver consistent, personalized instruction.
1 in every 100 children are diagnosed with autism, according to the CDC. 1% of the population is more than 75,000,000 people. Just like Miruna's NervOS familiarises people with the effects of OCD, Norm-al exposes people to the effects of autism without the stigma humans that are on the spectrum receive.
NORM
Norm-al is very happy doing his own thing. He is inquisitive and fascinated by everything. He can spend hours examining a toy. He is a childlike creature, but displays typical signs of autism.
But in social settings, Norm panics a little. He tries to act Norm-al but soon it becomes clear that Norm has a different idea of normal. When you approach Norm, he will great you enthousiastically and asks if you would like to hear about his favourite thing. If you say yes, he will talk for ten minutes about the bestway to teach your dog this specific trick. "But I don't have a dog". Well, that's not a problem for Norm, he will tell you all the benefits of having a dog.
But what if you don't want to hear about his interests? Well, then Norm goes a little quiet, unsure what to do in this situation. You try to explain something, but first you need to make sure he is listening. However, Norm refuses to look at you. How can he be listening if he isn't making eye-contact? When you sternly tell him "Look at me!" Norm start stimming and spinning.
Norm also displays palilalia, he repeats parts of his sentences when talking. "I don't know... I don't know... I don't know what you mean."
Interacting with Norm allows people to investigate how to interact with children on the autism spectrum, without the negative consequences when something goes wrong. Norm does not have meltdowns, as some autistic children do, to make it less likely that the conversationalist gets overwhelmed. The idea behind Norm is that neurotypical people get a better insight into neurodivergence and handle their future conversations with neurodivergent people with maybe a little bit more grace and patience.
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