Robot-assisted therapy for rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy - A complementary and alternative approach

Abstract

This work proposed the development of a game with a robot, built with Lego pieces, to make the rehabilitation treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy more effective. The aim of the game is to stimulate the motor coordination, cognition, memory and attention level of children, and to complement the activities carried out by the Neuropsychomotor Rehabilitation Program of the Nucleus of Occupational Therapy of NAMI (Nucleus of Integrated Medical Attention) of UNIFOR (The University of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil). The interaction between the child and the robot takes place through an Android remote control app installed on a smartphone. To validate the proposed method, five children were submitted to various sessions of activities with the robot, over a two-month period. A brain wave sensor, responsible for measuring the level of attention during the activities was employed. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to the professionals and parents of the children, in order to validate the tool proposed here. After analyzing the results, it was concluded that the robot is an effective and very promising complementary tool to assist in the rehabilitation treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy.