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Robot assisted Play - PlayROB
Summary
Play Experience by Assistive Technology for play
Devices, services & contexts for play with children with disabilities
Name of Play Experience by AT
Robot assisted Play - PlayROB
Type of project
Intervention
Finished research project
Ongoing research project
Summary
(~150 words: target group, aims, kind of activities, Play Experience by AT (devices, services and contexts) used, play experiences and results)
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. In this project a robot system was developed and first user trials with this system and the target group - physically disabled children. Working with this toy robot system allows children with physical disabilities to independently manipulate the real objects in a play situation.
Play Experience by Assistive technology
Low-tech, high-tech products, services and contexts for play
Description, intended use(s), intended target group(s), manufacturer/developer, reference
The main idea was to build a toyrobot for children with physical disabilities. The chosen setup – and this is also the main difference to other known approaches in the field - is to use the robot as an assistance system which allows interaction to standard toy –namely bricks and not as a toy itself. In order to make it available to a larger group of users one of the main criteria for the robot system was low-cost configuration. Special attention also was given to operation stability and especially to an appropriate human-machine interface. A prototype of the robot is available since summer 2003 and could be evaluated in several user trials. Functionality and technical specification Based on our previous work and a related study, the question arose whether a remote controlled robot system could be able to assist severe physically disabled children when playing with toys. The robot should serve as an assistant – the way of playing is defined by the user in order to ensure a maximum on autonomy. Not the robot is the toy – but the robot helps to use the toy. Using the functionality of the robot system, the user is now in the position to manipulate real objects (toys) in the real world, despite of her/his disability. In a first feasibility study, a dedicated custom-made robot system has been designed for manipulation of small bricks by AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. The system consists of the following components : • Special designed “low-cost” robot system with three degrees-of-freedom; • Storing system for different types of bricks; current system setup: two stacks for 2x2 bricks and one stack for 4x2 bricks (each stack has a capacity of 18 bricks) plus one additional magazine for four special bricks • Dedicated gripper device ; • Control system including user-adapted input devices; at the current state, the system can be operated by means of a single switch (in scanning mode), a mouth-mouse (also developed by AIT), and a standard 5-key input device – all the devices can be adapted to the particular needs of each user
Picture
Download
Context
The context of use
(home, school, rehab center or other environments)
School, rehab center,
Type of Play
Type of play in this play system
LUDI Classification of types of play
Cognitive Dimension
Practice
Symbolic
Constructive
Rule play (including videogames)
Social Dimension
Solitary
Parallel
Associative
Cooperative
Objectives
Objectives related to play according to ICF-CY
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - Children & Youth Version (ICF-CY)
Play for the sake of play
Major life areas - d880 engagement in play
d8800 solitary play
d8801 onlooker play
d8802 parallel play
d8803 shared cooperative play
d8808 engagement in play, other specified
d8809 engagement in play, unspecified
Community social and civic life - d920 recreation and leisure time
d9200 play
Play-like activities
Therapeutic and educational objectives
b1 Mental functions
b2 Sensory functions and pain
b3 Voice and speech functions
b4 Functions of cardiovascular, hematological, immunological and respiratory systems
b5 Functions of digestive, metabolic and endocrine systems
b7 Neuromusculoskeletal and movement related functions
d1 Learning and applying knowledge (learning through symbolic play, learning through pretend play)
d2 General tasks and demands
d3 Communication
d4 Mobility
d7 Interpersonal interactions and relationships
Participant
Participant(s)
Number
1-5
5-10
10-20
>20
Chronological Age
0-3 years
3-6 years
6-12 years
12-18 years
Development Age
0-3 years
3-6 years
6-12 years
12-18 years
LUDI Categories of disabilities
Mental/intellectual impairments:
mild
moderate
severe
profound
Hearing impairments
Partially hearing impaired
Deaf
Visual impairments
Partially sighted
Blind
Communication disorders (speech and language disorders)
Physical impairments
Mild
Moderate
Severe
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Multiple disabilities
Explanation
Explanation on the use of low-tech, high-tech devices, services or contexts
Explanation
No instruction, self-discovery of the participant/subject
Verbal instruction, language and communication fitting to chronological age
Verbal instruction, language and communication is adapted
Visual and/or verbal instruction with AAC (Aumentative and Alternative Communication)
Visual instruction with written language
Visual instruction with pictures or drawings
Modeling by therapist/researcher
Hand over hand: therapist/researcher leads the actions of the participant
Prompting: therapist/researcher touches the participant as a key for further actions
Guided discovery: therapist/researcher coaches the participant so s/he discovers how to use the assistive technology
Modeling by peer
Visual instruction by peer
Verbal instruction by peer
Involvement
Adult: therapist/educator/researcher
Parent or significant others
Peer with disabilities
Peer without disabilities
Role
Non-participatory observer
Participatory observer
Providing instruction
After the instruction, providing supervision during play
Evaluation
Evaluation of objectives and outcome measures
Description of outcome measure(s)
Observation by professional/researcher providing the play experience
Observation by other professional/researcher
Video analysis
Feedback from client/parents/professionals
(validated and reliable) outcome measures like tests, self-reports of client/system, questionnaires
Achievements
Summary of achieved effects
The user tests revealed that robot systems can be attractive toys for children with physical handicaps. The children enjoyed playing with that system and the goal to make autonomous play for children with physical handicaps possible has been achieved. The users all made new experiences – most of them were in an active player role for the first time. To have fun with the toy robot should be in the foreground - but it also can be assumed that playing with the toy robot system implicate some learning effects of the development of spatial sense and perception. A continuative research question now will be to investigate these learning effects by means of a multi-centre study. The challenge would be how to quantify the learning effects by this target group mainly because of the difficulties to evaluate the starting level of development of the users and the progress they made after using this toy robot system. Children with multiple impairments have difficulties to understand this system as the user-tests showed. For this target group an easier handling of the toy robot is under development.
References
References to the intervention or research project
Contact Person
Barbara Prazak-Aram
Keywords
Keywords
Example: Robots, Virtual Games, Mobile Phone, Public Playground, Adapted Toys
Robots, assisted play, physically disabled children
Play Systems with similar keywords
KASPAR the Social robot
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