A robotic platform for customized and interactive rehabilitation of persons with disabilities

Abstract

In this work, we have developed a multisensor system for rehabilitation and interaction with persons with motor and cognitive disabilities. The system enables them to perform different therapies using multiple modes of interaction (head and body pose, hand gestures, voice, touch and gaze) depending on the type and degree of disability. Through a training process, the system can be customized enabling the definition of patients’ own gestures for each sensor. The system is integrated with a range of applications for rehabilitation. Examples of these applications are puzzle solving, mazes and text writing using predictive text tools. The system also provides a flexible and modular framework for the development of new applications oriented towards novel rehabilitation therapies. The proposed system has been integrated in a mobile robotic platform and uses low-cost sensors allowing to perform non-intrusive rehabilitation therapies at home. Videos showing the proposed system and users interacting in different ways (multimodal) are available on our project website www.rovit.ua.es/patente/.