Rehabilitation Engagement at Home with a Socially Assistive Robot for Pediatric Adherence (REHAB-PAL) – a Feasibility Study

Research Objectives: To investigate the feasibility of employing Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) as a means to enhance compliance with home-based rehabilitation programs among children with neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy.

Design: A prototype version of the REHAB-PAL system was created by integrating both an Active Video Game (AVG) interface and a Socially Assistive Robot (SAR), specifically the Nao robot.

Setting: Rehabilitation Hospital

Participants: We recruited 10 children with neurological conditions (7-14 years old, 4 boys, 6 girls).

Interventions: Participants engaged in AVG games targeting gait and balance under three distinct conditions. These conditions were randomly assigned to each participant and included: 1) utilizing the AVG platform without any augmentation, 2) utilizing the AVG platform enhanced with a physically embodied SAR, and 3) utilizing the AVG platform enhanced with a virtual agent (an avatar displayed on the screen providing feedback similar to the SAR). Following the session, both the child and parent(s) who attended the session were presented with questionnaires for feedback.

Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measure utilized was the System Usability Scale (SUS), employed to assess the system's usability.

Results: The results from the SUS indicate notable preferences for the SARs over both the virtual agent and the AVG platform in several key aspects. When comparing SAR to the virtual agent, participants expressed a strong inclination towards using the system frequently (90%) and perceived less complexity in its operation (70%). Additionally, a significant majority believed that most users would quickly grasp the system (90%) and found it less cumbersome to use (80%) compared to the virtual agent. When contrasting SAR with the AVG platform, participants favored SAR in terms of frequency of use (90%) and perceived complexity (90%).

Conclusions: Our study investigated the feasibility of utilizing SARs to enhance compliance with home-based rehabilitation programs among children with neurological conditions, such as cerebral palsy. Through the integration of an AVG interface with a physically embodied SAR within the REHAB-PAL system, we aimed to create an engaging and supportive therapeutic environment. The findings, as assessed by the SUS, revealed significant preferences for SARs over both the virtual agent and standalone AVG platforms across various usability metrics. These results highlight the potential of SARs to improve the effectiveness and acceptability of home-based rehabilitation interventions for children with neurological conditions. This research provides valuable insights for future studies and clinical applications aiming to enhance rehabilitation outcomes through innovative technology integration.

Author(s) Disclosures: Daniel Tabb- Nothing to disclose