electronics Review Social Robots in Special Education: A Systematic Review George A. Papakostas 1,* , George K. Sidiropoulos 1, Cristina I. Papadopoulou 1, Eleni Vrochidou 1, Vassilis G. Kaburlasos 1 , Maria T. Papadopoulou 2 , Vasiliki Holeva 3 , Vasiliki-Aliki Nikopoulou 3 and Nikolaos Dalivigkas 4 1 HUMAIN-Lab, Department of Computer Science, International Hellenic University, 65404 Kavala, Greece;
[email protected] (G.K.S.);
[email protected] (C.I.P.);
[email protected] (E.V.);
[email protected] (V.G.K.) 2 4th Department of Pediatrics, Papageorgiou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 56403 Thessaloniki, Greece;
[email protected] 3 1st Psychiatric Clinic, Papageorgiou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 56403 Thessaloniki, Greece;
[email protected] (V.H.);
[email protected] (V.-A.N.) 4 Euroaction, 54655 Thessaloniki, Greece;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +30-2510-462-321 Abstract: In recent years, social robots have become part of a variety of human activities, especially in applications involving children, e.g., entertainment, education, companionship. The interest of this work lies in the interaction of social robots with children in the field of special education. This paper seeks to present a systematic review of the use of robots in special education, with the ultimate goal of highlighting the degree of integration of robots in this field worldwide. This work aims to explore the technologies of robots that are applied according to the impairment type of children. The study showed a large number of attempts to apply social robots to the special education of children with Citation: Papakostas, G.A.; Sidiropoulos, G.K.; Papadopoulou, various impairments, especially in recent years, as well as a wide variety of social robots from the C.I.; Vrochidou, E.; Kaburlasos, V.G.; market involved in such activities.