Defining therapeutic scenarios using robots for children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

For children with Cerebral Palsy, occupational and physical therapy are intervention mechanisms that support their development in areas of motor, cognitive, sensory, communicative, social and emotional functioning. Moreover, with recent advances in robotics, protocols using robots are ideal to make an impact in these interventions. The proposal of this paper is to present a first approach to the definition of therapeutic scenarios using robots for the rehabilitation processes of children with cerebral palsy. In order to specify these scenarios, a pilot test is presented, where the therapeutic aims for four children with motor disability (cerebral palsy) are formalized. Likewise, the functional requirements of the robots are defined, as well as a proposal for evaluation of the objectives. This process has been done with children attending their scheduled therapy at the Neuro-Rehabilitation Center “SURGIR” in Cali–Colombia.