■Robot is designed for teaching social skills to children with autism

The Pittsburgh startup Interbots has created a robot named Popchilla, which is designed to be used with children who have autism spectrum disorders. The robot features human-like facial expressions that can be controlled by a parent, teacher or therapist, and can help children with autism practice social interactions. "We want to use Popchilla to help those children with their social skills and interacting with real people," said Michael Knight, Interbots' chief technical officer. FastCoExist (9/25)