2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

PictoConecta: Technological Support for Communication for Autistic People in daily enviroments

Presented at Computers in Education Division (COED) Track 4.C

Deficits in social interaction and communication, along with the presence of restricted interests or repetitive behaviors, generally characterize individuals with autism. Communication is essential to human interaction and plays a fundamental role in developing relationships, expressing ideas, and transmitting information. PictoConecta is a mobile application that enables users to communicate with others who have communication deficiencies using pictograms. The generation and management of communication are supported by two AIs that enhance the users' communication experience, making it more concrete and accurate for the context. Among its functions is the activity planner, which includes context development formulated with the support of AI. A proposed model is used to measure the efficiency of the application, combining relevant features of the UTUAT and PACMAD models. The proposed model (M-UTUAT) is based on ten hypotheses or technology acceptance models. To measure effectiveness, it was proposed to calculate the completeness of planned activities as the success percentage in task completion. This analysis was initially conducted with verbal planning in a controlled environment as a control sample, followed by the execution of samples of the same activity supported by the use of the application. The results derived from various samples, controlled trials, and methodologies suggest that anticipation through the use of pictograms significantly increases success in the execution of planned tasks, as well as in activities with a certain degree of unpredictability. Additionally, the application of the proposed methodologies within the framework of PictoConecta has demonstrated the creation of effective opportunities to optimize the interaction between users and their daily environments

Authors

Paulina Henríquez Lagos Universidad Andres Bello [biography]

Industrial Engineering and MSc. in Computer Science by Universidad Andres Bello
Dr. Juan Felipe Calderón http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-7248-4492 Universidad Andres Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile [biography]

Juan Felipe Calderón received the bachelor's in computer science and MSc and PhD degrees in engineering sciences from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
He is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad Andres Bello. His research interests are learning design supported by technology, innovation in engineering education, sustainability in cloud computing, technological infrastructure.
Ruben Orlando Baeza Accion Integra [biography]

An Industrial Manufacturing and Design Engineer with a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering specializing in Data Science. He has experience as a Flutter software developer, excelling in creating innovative and efficient solutions. Additionally, he is the co-founder of Corporación Acción Integra, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals within the autism spectrum, and has served as a university lecturer, sharing his knowledge and passion for engineering and technology with future generations.
Dr. Luis Rojas Universidad San Sebastián [biography]

LUIS ROJAS received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in 2017. He is currently a Lecturer with the Universidad San Sebastian, Santiago, Chile. He has been a Software Engineer with Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission for ten years. He has also served as a reviewer and the chair at different conferences on software engineering and human–computer interaction. He is the author of several research articles, book chapters, and has also served as a book editor. His research interests include artificial intelligent, human–computer interaction, software engineering, and learning analytics.

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