Development of Imitation Learning through Physical Therapy Using a Humanoid Robot

Abstract

Humanoids have increasingly become the focus of attention in robotic research, especially in rehabilitation robotics. In the past few years, the prevalence of Cerebral Palsy (CP) in the world population has remained unchanged. CP is one of the most common disorders affecting muscle control and coordination in children, resulting in movement disorders. There are assistive technologies that are used for increasing, maintaining or improving the functional abilities of CP children. However, there is still a lack of interventional; therapy which involves Social Assistive Robotics (SAR). Socially assistive technologies have great potential in education & learning for children, especially for children with disabilities. Problems faced by children with CP may not be confined to physical impairment but may in addition have impairments of cognition, visual, language and communication. Therefore, combining physical, speech and language and occupational therapy with cognitive and social development is very important. This paper aims to describe the architecture of using humanoid robot NAO as a tool to augment physical learning for CP children. This work is mainly based on qualitative study, which is aimed to analyze how the HRI impacts the motor gross function and attention. This paper will describe the aim, objectives, methodology, and experiment layout. Experiment with CP children will be done in the near future after obtaining ethical approval from UiTM Ethics Committee. The outcome of the study may exhibit positive utilization of the humanoid robot NAO as a new intervention tool to augment therapy for children with CP.