Robotic Crawling Assistant for Kids at Risk of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) can be detrimental to the physical development of a child, but the earlier therapy is initiated the better are its results. The trick is to identify young children at risk of CP and to provide them with a therapy that helps with long term development. To that end, researchers at University of Oklahoma created a device that helps infants crawl around the floor while their brain activity is being monitored.

Coupled with a movement test that's pretty good at forecasting which kids will develop CP, the robotic system allows at-risk kids to begin moving around earlier than they would normally would. This can provide a jumpstart months ahead of when the child would be able to crawl on their own, boosting how ready they are for overcoming CP.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) that is obtained through a cap worn on the head during robotic therapy sessions helps the researchers track brain activity and measure change over time.

More from IEEE Spectrum: Robotic Onesie Assists Babies at Risk for Cerebral Palsy…

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