Development and Preliminary Investigation of a Semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) Designed to Elicit Communication, Motor Skills, Emotion, and Visual Regard (Engagement) from Young Children with Complex Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Comparative Trial

Abstract

Through play, typically developing children manipulate objects and interact with peers to establish and develop physical, cognitive, language, and social skills. However, children with complex disabilities and/or developmental delays have limited play experiences, thus compromising the quality of play and acquisition of skills. Assistive technologies have been developed to increase opportunities and level of interaction for children with disabilities to facilitate learning and development. One type of technology, Socially Assistive Robotics, is designed to assist the human user through social interaction while creating measurable growth in learning and rehabilitation. The investigators in this study designed, developed, and validated a semiautonomous Socially Assistive Robot to compare with a switch-adapted toy to determine robot effectiveness in quantity of, changes in, and differences in engagement. After interacting with both systems for three sessions each, five of the eight subjects showed a greater level of positive engagement with the robot than the switch-adapted toy, while the remaining three subjects showed slightly higher positive engagement with the toy. The preliminary results of the study suggest that Socially Assistive Robots specifically designed for children with complex cerebral palsy should be further researched and utilized to enrich play interactions and skill development for this population.

Relationship between Sensory Processing Skills and Feeding Behaviors in Children Aged 3–6 Years with Cerebral Palsy with Cerebral Visual Impairment

“…Although our results were similar, we found that in addition to low sensory threshold, avoidance, and sensitivity behavior, sensory seeking response also improved in children with CP with CVI. It is known that children with CP with CVI and children with CP without CVI due to neural involvement have lower sensory, motor, and cognitive skills than children with TD, and their functional independence levels are lower accordingly [34,35]. Children with functional disabilities may exhibit sensory seeking because they do not have adequate access to sensory stimuli.…”

Children’s Imaginaries of Robots for Playing With

“…Two children (P13 and P14) drew a robot interacting with a child, with their drawings showing clear differences between the appearance of the robot and that of the child. Children with cerebral palsy have shown playfulness and engagement in play activities facilitated by several animal-like and machine-like robotic toys (Air Swimmer, Cubelets, Dash and Dot, Edison and Zoomer) [9], a socially assistive robot [11], ZORA (a version of the NAO robot with software developed for the field of care) [30], and an adapted car-like Lego robot [7]. To date, no studies have compared the acceptance of robots with different appearances (e.g.…”

“…Robots' characteristics and styles of interaction influence the levels of engagement and enjoyment children expect to find when interacting with robots, which is critical for the formation of child-robot interaction. A considerable amount of research has been dedicated to developing social robots that are able to recognize and react to human emotions using artificial intelligence [6,11]. Thus, this feature is being sought by developers.…”

“…Mahdi and colleagues [10] consulted a children's special needs expert to design a social robot for robot-assisted play for children with motor impairment. Clark and colleagues [11] developed a semi-autonomous socially assistive robot that acted as a toy to facilitate engagement in play and found that subject-matter experts, in this case pediatric therapists, reported that children were engaged in interacting with the robotic toy. Marti and colleagues [12], in a user-centered design approach for the development of the IROMEC robot, asked teachers, special educators, parents, care-givers, and therapists for ideas to elaborate on the robot's requirements.…”

Virtual Reality-Based Framework to Simulate Control Algorithms for Robotic Assistance and Rehabilitation Tasks through a Standing Wheelchair

“…However, there is a group of people with disabilities in lower and/or upper limbs, or with severe motor dysfunctions who cannot manipulate conventional mechanical devices [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]. This group of people require permanent assistance, i.e., they depend on a third person to manipulate the device, get out of bed, use the toilet; in short, to carry out any type of daily activity, thus generating dependence on their family, friends or caregivers [ 5 ].…”