WeeBot: A novel method for infant control of a robotic mobility device (original) (raw)
TheWeeBot: Feasibility of a Mobility Option for Infants
In this pilot study we investigated the ability of five infants from 6 to 9 months of age to learn to drive the WeeBot, a mobile robot controlled by weight shift over a Wii balance board, over five training sessions. Infants demonstrated continued improvement in driving performance in a training protocol, and in time-in-motion and goal-directed behavior during free play sessions. The Wii provided a control system that appeared to be intuitive for the infants to use.
Development of robotic mobility for infants: rationale and outcomes
Physiotherapy, 2012
Objectives To assess the feasibility of a robotic mobility device for infants using alternative control interfaces aimed at promoting early self-initiated mobility, and to assess the effects of a training protocol and robot experience. Design Observational and pre-post quantitative case studies. Setting Standardised, research laboratory and day-care centres with toys and individuals familiar to infants. Participants Children with and without disabilities, aged 5 months to 3 years. Interventions In each study, infants were seated over a Pioneer TM 3-DX mobile robot. Some infants controlled the directional movement of the robot by weight shifting their body on a Nintendo® Wii TM Balance Board (the WeeBot), while others used a modified joystick. Infants participated in five sessions over 2 to 5 weeks. Sessions consisted of administering a 10-minute training protocol preceded and followed by 2 to 3 minutes of free play. One child with motor impairment used a button switch array and a different experimental design. Main outcome measures From the videotaped free-play periods, goal-directed behaviours were coded and time in motion was measured. In the training period, a scoring system was developed to measure the infants' driving performance. Results Preliminary outcomes indicate that infants without disabilities, aged 5 to 10 months, demonstrated significant improvement in driving performance and goal-directed movement using the WeeBot. Infants who used the joystick were less successful on all measures. Results for infants with disabilities using the WeeBot were mixed. Conclusions Mobile robots offer promise to enhance the development of early self-mobility. Novel types of interfaces, such as the WeeBot, warrant further investigation.
INFANT ROBOTIC MOBILITY: COMPARISON OF BALANCE BOARD VS. JOYSTICK CONTROL INTERFACE
This study compared the ability of infants to learn to direct their movement on a mobile robot with a balance board control interface (the WeeBot) or a joystick. Twenty infants were recruited who were developing typically, and ranged in age from 5 to 9 months; ten infants were assigned to each control interface group. Each infant participated in five robot sessions, which included a three-minute free play period, and a ten-minute driver-training period, followed by a second two-minute free play period. In driver training, infants completed 9 trials where they were offered a toy from three directions at three distances. Infants learned to use the WeeBot interface easily, but performance using the joystick was poor for most infants. Results of this study suggest that for young infants, the joystick may not be a feasible control interface for powered mobility. Alternate control interfaces such as the WeeBot that are intuitive to use may provide more successful learning for very young c...
Assistive Technology, 2017
The onset of crawling in infants contributes to cognitive, perceptual, social, and emotional development. Conversely, infants with motor impairment that delays or prevents autonomous mobility often have associated developmental delays. Evidence suggests that providing mobility may have positive developmental outcomes, however powered wheelchairs may not be recommended for very young children, due to safety concerns and the child's level of cognitive maturity. The WeeBot is a mobility device controlled by infant weight shifting while seated; infants as young as 5 months have learned to use it. This study compares the efficacy of using the WeeBot vs. using the traditional manual joystick to control a robotic mobility device. Participants were 20 typically developing infants between 5 and 10 months who had not yet achieved independent mobility. A quasi-experimental two-group design was used: The first 10 participants recruited used the WeeBot (weight-shift); the next 10 used the joystick. Results showed that infants learned to use weight-shift control more easily and more skilfully than did infants using the joystick. The ability of infants to use the WeeBot suggests that an intuitive alternative control might allow very early powered mobility for children with disabilities, which might have implications for various aspects of their development.
Baby Robot: Improving the Motor Skills of Toddlers
2021
This article introduces “Baby Robot”, a robot aiming to improve motor skills of babies and toddlers. Authors developed a car-like toy that moves autonomously using reinforcement learning and computer vision techniques. The robot behaviour is to escape from a target baby that has been previously recognised, or at least detected, while avoiding obstacles, so that the security of the baby is not compromised. A myriad of commercial toys with a similar mobility improvement purpose are into the market; however, there is no one that bets for an intelligent autonomous movement, as they perform simple yet repetitive trajectories in the best of the cases. Two crawling toys –one in representation of “Baby Robot”– were tested in a real environment with respect to regular toys in order to check how they improved the toddlers mobility. These real-life experiments were conducted with our proposed robot in a kindergarten, where a group of children interacted with the toys. Significant improvement i...
A Baby Robot Platform for Cognitive Developmental Robotics
This paper presents a new baby robot platform for cognitive developmental robotics developed by the Socially-Synergistic Intelligence group of JST ERATO Asada Project. We aim at developing a baby-sized humanoid robot with highperformance mobility to tackle research issues which have not been covered by robots developed in our group, for example, motor learning through whole-body motor babbling and motion generation with tactile interaction. For this purpose, powerful and easily controllable actuators as well as a robust structure able to absorb shocks are chosen to allow the development of dynamical motions. Furthermore the robot surface is covered by touch sensors in order to allow studies in physical humanrobot interaction. Two research topics that will employ the new platform are presented. The former involves the exploitation of biological fluctuations, a control method inspired from the chemotaxis of bacteria and from gene expressions of growing cells, to learn a crawling motion. The second aims at studying touch as a communication mean to develop robot motions.
Autonomous Spherical Mobile Robot for Child-Development Studies
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans, 2005
This paper presents the design process of a spherical robot capable of autonomous motion, and demonstrates how it can become a tool in child development studies. The robot, named Roball, is capable of intentional selfpropelled movements and can generate various interplay situations using motion, messages, sounds, illuminated parts and other sensors. Such capabilities allow Roball to interact with young children in simple and interesting ways, and provide the potential of contributing to the development of their language, affective, motor, intellectual and social skills. Trials done with 12 to 24 month old children demonstrate how Roball can be used to study children's interest in a self-propelled and intentional device. An experimental methodology to conduct such studies is presented: it is based on quantitative and qualitative techniques to evaluate interactions, thus enabling the identification of challenges and opportunities in child-robot interaction studies.
Novel Assistive Device for Teaching Crawling Skills to Infants
Crawling is a fundamental skill linked to development far beyond simple mobility. Infants who have cerebral palsy and similar conditions learn to crawl late, if at all; pushing back other elements of their development. This paper describes the development of a robot (the Self-Initiated Prone Progression Crawler v3, or SIPPC3) that assists infants in learning to crawl. When an infant is placed onboard, the robot senses contact forces generated by the limbs interacting with the ground. The robot then moves or raises the infant's trunk accordingly. The robot responses are adjustable such that even infants lacking the muscle strength to crawl can initiate movement. The novel idea that this paper presents is the use of a force augmenting motion mechanism to help infants learn how to crawl.
Perspectives on Mobile Robots as Tools for Child Development and Pediatric Rehabilitation
Assistive Technology, 2007
Mobile robots (i.e., robots capable of translational movements) can be designed to become interesting tools for child development studies and pediatric rehabilitation. In this article, the authors present two of their projects that involve mobile robots interacting with children: One is a spherical robot deployed in a variety of contexts, and the other is mobile robots used as pedagogical tools
A Data Collection of Infants’ Visual, Physical, and Behavioral Reactions to a Small Humanoid Robot
2018 IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts (ARSO)
Exploratory movements during infancy help typically developing infants learn the connections between their own actions and desired outcomes. In contrast, infants who are at risk for developmental delays often have neuromotor impairments that negatively influence their motivation for movement. The goal of this work is to expand our understanding of infant responses to non-contact interactions with a small humanoid robot. In the initial work presented here, we focus on understanding how this type of robotic system might help to encourage typically developing infant motor exploration. A data collection with N = 9 infants compared infant reactions to four robot conditions: saying "yay" with arm movement, saying "kick" with leg movement, saying "yay" with no movement, and saying "kick" with no movement. The results indicate that infants visually gazed at the robot while it moved, looking specifically to the part of the robot that was moving. Infants tended to move more during periods of robot inactivity. When the robot was moving, the infants also seemed more alert. Overall, these results can inform future studies of how to develop interventions to encourage movement practice by typically developing and at-risk infants.
A toy robot for physically disabled children
Technology and Disability, 2004
The aim of this project is to explore how children with physical disabilities could use a toy robot system for autonomous playing. Children with physical disabilities have difficulties interacting with the material environment and they have fewer possibilities for autonomous play. This paper reports the developmental process of a robot system and results of the first user trials with this system and the target group. Working with this toy robot system allows children with physical disabilities to independently manipulate the real objects in a play situation. Future development is outlined.
FEASABILITY OF A MOBILE ROBOT WITH ALTERNATIVE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A CHILD WITH CEREBRAL PALSY
INTRODUCTION Independent mobility is very important in the development of typical infants, as it allows the acquisition of a broad range of skills across multiple domains. Positive changes in aspects of development have been documented in children with significant disabilities when provided with powered mobility [1,2,3]. RESNA approved a position paper in 2008 encouraging clinicians to provide early powered mobility) to appropriate children, however, electric wheelchairs are costly, impose safety risks, and traditionally have not been recommended for children until they are at least 24 to 36 months of age [4,5]. Additionally, clinicians find that many individuals who need powered mobility are unable to use existing control systems due to problems with strength, coordination, and visual acuity. The purpose of this case report is to describe the development of a safe robotic mobility device with an alternative control system designed for a three year old child with significant motor i...
BabyGlove: a device to study hand motion control development in infants
DataGlove input devices provide natural input control of interaction in virtual, multimodal and telepresence environments as they can monitor the dexterity and flexibility characteristics of the human hand motion. In this paper a new miniature hand input device named the "Baby Glove" is presented. In contrast to the current Dataglove applications this miniature device was developed to study the sensorimotor control development in half to one year old infants and their ability to imitate. To meet the requirements of this application a device with a total mass of 40g including all the control hardware has been developed. An increased mobility wireless interface to the simulation computer is provided. This was realised with the employment of the Bluetooth radio technology.
The near future of children's robotics
Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Interaction Design and Children
Robotics is a multidisciplinary and highly innovative field. Recently, multiple and often minimally connected sub-communities of child-robot interaction have started to emerge, variously focusing on the design issues, engineering, and applications of robotic platforms and toolkits. Despite increasing public interest in robots, including robots for children, child-robot interaction research remains highly fragmented and lacks regular cross-disciplinary venues for discussion and dissemination. This workshop will bring together researchers with diverse scientific backgrounds. It will serve as a venue in which to reflect on the current circumstances in which child-robot research is conducted, articulate emerging and "near future" challenges, and discuss actions and tools with which to meet those challenges and consolidate the field.
BabyRobot-Next Generation Social Robots
2016
We present the main ideas of the recently initiated EU-IST H2020 project “BabyRobot”. The project is a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort for developing and commercially exploiting the next generation of human-robot interaction technologies in order to promote the adoption of robotic systems in educational settings, consumer applications and beyond. Keywords—Child-Robot Communication and Collaboration, Multimodal Interaction, Child-Robot Interaction, Evaluating Child-Robot Interaction, Spoken Dialogue Systems
A mechatronic platform for behavioral studies on infants
2012
In this article the design and fabrication of a new mechatronic platform (called "Mechatronic Board") for behavioral analysis of children are presented and discussed. The platform is the result of a multidisciplinary design approach which merges input coming from neuroscientists, psychologists, roboticians and bioengineers, with the main goal of studying learning mechanisms driven by intrinsic motivations and curiosity. A detailed analysis of the main features of the mechatronic board is provided, focusing on the key aspects which allow studying intrinsically motivated learning in children. Finally preliminary results on curiosity-driven learning, coming from a pilot study on children are reported
2018
A new discipline of greatest importance is introduced – Child Friendly Robotics. Its rich theoretical framework is beyond the scope of this paper, yet an excellent first glance at this revolutionary field is provided, by an indepth analysis of a pioneer program to implement Child Friendly Robotics on a national scale.