Unpredictable environments
Real-world settings are loud, crowded and full of surprises that are hard to prepare for.
An XR therapy platform for autism professionals, made in Doha.
Rehearse the world, safely — before living it.
AutismoLab is an extended-reality (XR) therapy platform that lets children with autism practise real-life situations — like a flight, from check-in to landing — in calm, controlled virtual environments, while clinicians guide, adapt and measure every session.
The flight was our first journey. We’re now building a full library of everyday situations and a training academy for the people around each child.
- Incubated at MCIT’s Digital Incubation Center
- Endorsed by Mada Center
- Research published at IEEE BESC 2023
- Top 30 startups · SWITCH Singapore
Live session
Flight journey
- Check-in
- Boarding
- Take-off
- Landing
As featured in
Al JazeeraGulf TimesI Love QatarMCIT QatarQatar Mission to the UNNafathIEEE
For many autistic children, new places are a sensory storm.
Noise, crowds, announcements, confined seats, strangers. A first flight — or a first day anywhere new — can become something the whole family has to get through, rather than enjoy.
Hard to practise in real life
You can’t take a child to an airport ten times before the real journey. Chances to rehearse are rare and costly.
Progress is hard to see
Without session data, therapists and families are left guessing what works and what to try next.
AutismoLab turns the unknown into the familiar.
AutismoLab combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) with structured, measurable, therapist-guided exposure. Children rehearse situations step by step, safely, as many times as they need — until the unknown becomes familiar.
Customisable XR therapy modules
Scenarios that clinicians tailor to each child’s goals, sensitivities and pace.
Real-life rehearsal
Immersive journeys — like a full flight from check-in to landing — practised in a safe space.
Social skills, communication & anxiety
Interactive experiences built around the areas that matter most in daily life.
Clinician dashboard
Launch simulation events and follow the session through a live view of what the child sees.
Measurable progress
Session data turns every rehearsal into insight you can track over time.
Personalised interventions
Shape the next step on evidence from the last one — instead of guessing.
Try it yourself
Take the journey, one step at a time.
This is how a child moves through a rehearsal. Choose each step and adjust the sound and the crowd, as a therapist would. You can also listen to the cabin — nothing moves or plays unless you choose it.
Sound: Soft
People: Some
Check-in
- The child practises
- Waiting in a queue, handing over a passport, hearing their name called.
- What can be adjusted
- How long the queue is, how loud the hall sounds, how long each wait lasts.
Boarding
- The child practises
- Walking down the air bridge, finding the seat, fastening the seatbelt.
- What can be adjusted
- How many passengers board, how loud announcements are, how much time there is to settle.
Take-off
- The child practises
- Engine noise, the view from the window, staying seated while the plane climbs.
- What can be adjusted
- Engine sound, when the next announcement comes, and a pause the child can ask for at any moment.
Landing
- The child practises
- The seatbelt sign, waiting to stand, collecting bags, leaving calmly.
- What can be adjusted
- Crowding in the aisle, the timing of announcements, and a calm break before leaving the plane.
Real airport and cabin recordings. Soft plays only the background — the terminal, the cabin and the engines. Busy adds the pilot and safety announcements and the landing gear. “People around” changes the crowd. Sound plays only while this section is on screen and stops as soon as you scroll up or down.
In a real session the child wears a headset in the cabin or at the clinic, and the therapist sets these levels from the dashboard.
More than a flight simulator
One platform for the moments that matter in everyday life.
The aircraft cabin proved the idea. The new platform grows it into a library of journeys — each built with therapists, tested with families and paced by the professional in the room.
| Journey | What the child rehearses | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Air travel | Check-in, security, boarding, take-off and landing — in a real cabin and in XR | Available now |
| School life | The first day, bells and transitions, assembly, the lunch hall | On the roadmap |
| Medical & dental visits | The waiting room, a check-up, the dentist’s chair, a vaccination | On the roadmap |
| Everyday places | The supermarket, a restaurant, the mall, a haircut | On the roadmap |
| Getting around | The metro and bus, a taxi, crossing the road, crowds | On the roadmap |
| Social skills & communication | Greetings, taking turns, asking for help, joining play | On the roadmap |
| Emotional regulation | Noticing body signals, calming strategies, sensory breaks | On the roadmap |
| Safety & independence | Getting lost, a fire drill, paying for things, a first job visit | On the roadmap |
Roadmap journeys are planned and may change as we learn. Tell us which situations are hardest for your children, students or clients — it decides what we build next.
For clinicians
Therapy you can actually measure.
The AutismoLab clinician dashboard brings the whole session into one place, so the therapist stays in control while the child explores.
- 01Simulation eventsTrigger and sequence scenario moments on cue.
- 02Live patient viewSee what the child sees in the headset, in real time.
- 03Session dataReview each session and follow progress over weeks.
Four steps, guided by the therapist.
Every session is structured, repeatable and guided by a professional.
- 01
Personalise
The therapist sets goals and chooses a scenario adapted to the child.
- 02
Rehearse
The child practises the situation in XR, at their own pace, in a safe space.
- 03
Guide live
Through the live view, the therapist adjusts the session as it happens.
- 04
Measure & repeat
Session data shows what is working and shapes the next rehearsal.
Our clinical approach
Calm by design, led by the child.
Technology only helps when it respects how each autistic child experiences the world. These principles shape every journey we build and every session a therapist runs.
The child sets the pace
A child can pause or stop at any moment. Signs of distress end the step — never push through. Willingness to continue matters as much as progress.
Small steps, gradually
Exposure is graded: watch the cabin first, then sit in the seat, then hear the engines. Each step is repeated until it feels ordinary.
Senses under control
The therapist can lower volume, soften light, reduce crowds and slow announcements, then bring them back as the child is ready.
Predictable sessions
Short sessions with the same shape every time, a visual schedule shown in advance, and breaks built in.
A bridge to real life
XR is a rehearsal, not the destination. Each plan ends with a real-world step — a visit to the airport, a social story at home, the actual trip.
Professional judgement first
Headset use follows the manufacturer’s age guidance and the clinician’s screening — including seizure history and motion sensitivity. Some children start with a screen instead.
We co-design with therapists, families and autistic adults. Language matters too: we use both “autistic people” and “people with autism”, and follow each person’s preference.
AutismoLab Academy · in preparation
Training for the people around every child.
Rehearsal works best when everyone around the child speaks the same language. The Academy will bring practical courses and free resources in Arabic and English for professionals, schools and families.
For professionals
- XR in autism practice: the foundations
- Designing graded-exposure plans
- Sensory-informed session design
- Reading session data to plan the next step
For teachers & schools
- Preparing students for transitions
- Visual supports and social narratives
- A calmer, more inclusive classroom
- Using XR rehearsal before school trips
For families
- Preparing your child for a journey
- Building a calm-down plan together
- Social stories and visual schedules at home
- Working with your child’s therapist
Free resource libraryPrintable visual schedules, social story templates and a picture story for a first flight.
Live webinarsRegular sessions with specialists, therapists and autistic speakers.
Arabic-first contentCreated for families and professionals in Qatar and the region, not translated as an afterthought.
CertificatesProfessional courses are planned with certificates of completion, working towards accredited CPD.
Built for the people around the child.
Therapists & clinicsAdd measurable, repeatable XR sessions to your therapy programme.Book a demo
Schools & special-needs centresPrepare students for new routines, places and transitions.Explore a pilot
FamiliesHelp your child rehearse life’s big moments before they happen.See family resources
Airlines, airports & public spacesGive travellers and visitors with autism a way to prepare for the journey.Partner with us
Flagship experience
The Flight Journey Simulation Lab
It began with one question: what if a child with autism could live the flight before the flight?
The answer became a real aircraft cabin at Mada Center, built with the support of Qatar Airways and combined with XR experiences that walk each child through the whole journey.
2022
Launched at Mada – Qatar Assistive Technology Center
3 years
of designing, testing and rebuilding
1st
XR flight-cabin simulator for autistic children, worldwide
Akram Hidri on the flight simulator journey · 1 min 9 s · In Arabic, with Arabic on-screen text
“What I am most proud of is that a mother could watch her son sit in a real aircraft seat, calm, wearing a headset, practising a journey his family thought he would never take.”
The journey so far, seen through the window
In the news, 2022 
Endorsed by Mada The clinician dashboard 
Presenting the platform 
On the Web Summit stage
Grounded in research, honest about what’s next.
The flight simulation experience has been studied by researchers in Qatar. Early findings are encouraging — and they also point to where the next scenarios should go.
Identifying Emotions of Children with Autism during a Virtual Reality Simulation of an Airplane
A pilot study with five autistic children found that VR may trigger positive emotions and support experiential learning, and that the simulation offered an accurate aviation experience.
Read on IEEE Xplore (opens in a new tab)Autistic Children’s Emotional Engagement in a Virtual Flight Environment
Expanded findings suggest VR can help children feel more at ease and emotionally prepared for travel-related stress, and call for more varied and complex scenarios.
Read on Nafath (opens in a new tab)These are pilot studies with small samples. AutismoLab supports — and does not replace — professional assessment and therapy. We welcome research partners to study new journeys: see collaboration options.
A small idea from a lab in Doha, noticed by the world.
- 2022–2024Digital Incubation Center graduateMCIT Qatar · 6th Idea Camp, incubated from 2022
- EndorsedMada CenterCertificate of endorsement from the Qatar Assistive Technology Center
- 2022WinnerAbove & Beyond Hackathon — Ooredoo × QBIC
- 2022Qatar National FinalistEntrepreneurship World Cup
- 2023Top 30 international startupsSWITCH — Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology
- 2023Top 3 Social EntrepreneursQatar — awarded to founder Akram Hidri
The founder
Akram Hidri
Akram started his career with his hands on machines — as an aircraft mechanic on the Airbus A320 family at Tunisair Technics, where precision is a requirement, not a preference.
He retrained as a designer, earned a Master’s in Space Design and delivered more than 50 interior and product projects before founding the immersive-tech studio Creatrea in 2019. With his team, he spent three years at Mada Center designing the Flight Journey Simulation Lab — the project that became AutismoLab. He is also the founder of MindBridge XR.
“Even when you can’t reach your own dream yet, you can build someone else’s.”
10+
years in product & innovation
50+
design projects delivered
3
languages: Arabic, English, French
Latest from AutismoLab
Three years from a small idea to a flight simulator the world noticed
From a question asked at Mada Center to a real aircraft cabin, national press coverage, and a startup pitching on the world’s biggest stages.
Read the story (opens in a new tab)- AutismoLab graduates from the Digital Incubation Center’s Idea Camp
- AutismoLab joins the DIC’s ‘Make the Deal’ investment-readiness programme
- Selected among the Top 30 startups at SWITCH Singapore 2023
- Safe, worry-free travel for children with autism: a lab in Qatar simulates the flight journey
- Mada, Qatar Airways launch flight simulation lab for autistic children
- Mada Center and Qatar Airways announce the launch of the Flight Journey Simulation Lab
The new platform is being built. Be among the first to use it.
Register your interest for early access and pilot programmes. Tell us your role and the situations that matter most — we’ll invite you as access opens.
Help more children rehearse life’s big moments.
Investors, sponsors, foundations and research partners: see how you can fund new journeys, the Academy and regional rollout.
Questions, answered simply.
Short, plain answers about AutismoLab. Can’t find what you need? Get in touch.
What is AutismoLab?
AutismoLab is an extended-reality (XR) platform for professionals who work with children with autism. Using virtual and augmented reality, children rehearse real-life situations step by step in a calm, safe space, while the therapist guides the session and tracks progress.
Is AutismoLab only a flight simulator?
No. The flight was our first journey and proved the approach. The new platform adds a growing library of everyday situations — school, medical visits, everyday places, getting around, social skills and emotional regulation — plus an Academy of training and resources for professionals, teachers and families.
When can I use the new platform?
We’re building it now. Register your interest with the “Access the platform” button and we’ll invite you as early access and pilot programmes open. Centres can also book a demo of the current system.
Who is AutismoLab for?
Therapists, clinics, schools and special-needs centres. Families can take part through their child’s therapist, and airlines, airports and public venues can use it to help travellers and visitors with autism prepare.
Is VR suitable for every autistic child?
Not always, and no child should be pushed into it. Headset use follows the manufacturer’s age guidance and the clinician’s screening, including seizure history and motion sensitivity. Some children start with a screen, a video or a social story instead, and sessions stop whenever the child wants.
Does AutismoLab replace therapy?
No. AutismoLab is a tool for professionals. It supports — and does not replace — professional assessment and therapy.
Can families use AutismoLab at home?
Today, families take part through their child’s therapist or centre. We’re exploring a home-practice companion that therapists can assign, and free Academy resources for families are part of the plan.
What is the Flight Journey Simulation Lab?
A real aircraft cabin at Mada – Qatar Assistive Technology Center, built with the support of Qatar Airways and launched in July 2022. With XR, children practise every step of a flight — check-in, boarding, take-off and landing — before travelling for real.
Who supports AutismoLab?
AutismoLab was incubated from 2022 at the Digital Incubation Center (DIC) of Qatar’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and graduated from its Idea Camp programme. The flight lab was developed at Mada Center with the support of Qatar Airways.
How can I invest, sponsor or collaborate?
Visit our investors & partners page to see the options — investment, sponsoring a journey, grants, research collaboration and pilot sites — and request our investor deck.
How can I book a demo?
Use the contact form on this page or email hello@autismolab.com. You can write to us in English or Arabic.
Get in touch
Bring AutismoLab to your centre.
Book a demo, explore a pilot programme or partner with us. Tell us a little about you and we’ll get back to you.
hello@autismolab.com
Based in Doha, Qatar · English or Arabic
Interested in investing or sponsoring? Use the investor form.
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