Children with genetic anomalies or neurological disorders often require treatment in order to improve their eye-hand coordination and grip strength so that they may increase their level of participation in classroom and daily living activities [15]. The goal of this project is to develop a robotic haptic system that assesses and improves the eye-hand coordination and strength of children with these challenges. To attain this goal, the current thinking regarding the relationship between coordination and grip strength will be assessed and the population of children who could benefit the most from this research will be identified (Objective One). Next, six tasks with distinguishable levels of difficulty will be identified based upon a detailed analysis of patterns (Objective Two). Algorithms that support the children?s use of the robotic devices, but which do not override the commands made by the child, will be incorporated into the system (Objective Three). A fuzzy logic-based intelligent decision support system will be integrated into the proposed system which will facilitate the selection of tests by the system based upon accuracy and time measurements (Objective Four).
In this project, handwriting serves as the measurable outcome due to the broader implications of enhanced writing skills on academic performance tasks such as reading, writing, and speaking. Learning to write is an important and complex occupation of children [5, 10]. Further, writing is the primary way for students to communicate with and to display what has been learned [14]. In a public school setting, problems with handwriting or drawing typically result in referrals for occupational therapy services [9]. Improvements in eye-hand coordination will also enhance the ability of children to perform daily living tasks (dressing, feeding), which in turn, may result in more opportunities for employment and other contributions to society as they enter adulthood. The testbed to be used consists of a six-degrees-of-freedom force-reflecting haptic interface device, PHANToM - with the software development toolkits.
The intellectual merit of this project is to provide innovative research to improve eye-hand coordination, which in turn will allow children to increase their participation in various occupational activities including those of daily living and in the classrooms (i.e., handwriting). The system will use robotic mapping from a haptic user interface to a virtual environment along with an intelligent decision support system. In the case of the eye-hand coordination, we employ the sense of touch because the individual does not possess a well-developed visual feedback to control his/her movements. The principle investigator (PI) has conducted extensive research in the application of haptics to the execution of various occupational therapy tests by people with disabilities. In addition, the PI has close working relationships with the Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory at the University of South Florida and with the Occupational Therapy Department at Western Michigan University and is exploring local collaborations with Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. Preliminary data [13] obtained from a single subjects study of children diagnosed with eye-hand coordination problems indicate an improvement in the ability of the children to execute and complete the tasks. The results suggest that this proposed system could be used for assessment and training purposes. Also, the data suggests that the introduction of the haptic rendering capabilities, including the force feedback, offers special benefit and measures the impact on eye-hand coordination and the occupation of handwriting.
The broader impact is two-fold: It provides innovative research in rehabilitation robotics to the engineering and the health sciences community and its integration into the curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels within the various departments in the College of Engineering represents a new area of research for students. They will be able to experience the interdisciplinary nature of Robotic Systems within the context of Rehabilitation Engineering. Given the preliminary data, this system has the potential for reducing the burden and costs associated with the use of a trained professional to assess the disability and to conduct training sessions with the individual. Furthermore, this design may enhance the type and amount of data that clinicians use to assess and plan the respective treatment for improving eye-hand coordination and grasp strength. Finally, an extension of this system could include the identification of specific job tasks that could be accessed through a computer desktop as a training tool for individuals with various forms of disabilities in activities of daily living (ADL).
Background Eye-hand coordination is the ability of our vision system to coordinate the information received through the eyes to control, guide, and direct the hands in the accomplishment of a given task. Eye-hand coordination uses the eyes to direct attention and the hands to execute a particular task. This project discusses the possibility of improving eye-hand coordination in children, using a robotic mapping from a haptic user interface to a virtual environment (Figure 1). The intellectual merit of this project is to provide innovative research to improve eye-hand coordination, which in turn will allow children to increase their participation in various occupational activities including those of daily living and in the classrooms (i.e., handwriting). The results suggest that this proposed system could be used for assessment and training purposes. Also, the data suggests that the introduction of the haptic rendering capabilities, including the force feedback, offers special benefit and measures the impact on eye-hand coordination and the occupation of handwriting. The broader impact is two-fold: It provides innovative research in rehabilitation robotics to the engineering and the health sciences community and its integration into the curriculum within various departments, as it represents a new area of research for students. Students participating in this project were able to experience the interdisciplinary nature of Robotic Systems within the context of Rehabilitation Engineering. Given the preliminary data, this system has the potential in the future for reducing the burden and costs associated with the use of a trained professional to assess and conduct training sessions with the individual. Furthermore, this design may enhance the type and amount of data that clinicians use to assess and plan the respective treatment for improving eye-hand coordination and grasp strength. Description of the Robotic Haptic System The application uses a robotic mapping from a robotic haptic user interface to a virtual environment. Position data and the time and trajectories taken to execute the tasks were recorded for analysis in an evaluation function. The participants were instructed to start the tasks at the beginning of a given path and simply guide the device's stylus throughout the path until the task is completed (Figure 2). Evaluation Function An evaluation function was designed and tested to determine the accuracy (% of valid points within a given path) and time (seconds) taken for users to execute the tasks. (Figure 3) Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) This algorithm was designed and tested to take the data output by the evaluation function (Accuracy in % of valid points, and time taken in seconds) and suggest the next task to be executed and its level of difficulty. Pilot Study A pilot study was implemented in order to test the functionality of the system and its acceptance among children and their parents and therapists. A group of twenty one children from the Motor Development Clinic (MDC) at Cal Poly Pomona, ranging from five to eleven years of age divided in control/experimental groups participated in this experiment . The pre and post tests given were: Handwriting test, Developmental Test of Visual Perception and the Motor Free Visual Perceptual Test. At the end of the seven weeks, an overall performance study was conducted including the results of the evaluation function in accuracy and elapsed time, as well as the pre/post assessment tests. Conclusion The project has shown that the use of a robotic haptic interface with assistance functions can help reduce the execution time and increase accuracy for the tests chosen to assess eye-hand coordination problems. While the overall improvement in the assessment tests was not significant, it begins to establish the need for more testing and work using the system for children with eye-hand coordination problems. The Cal Poly MDC is non-categorical, which means the identification of the disability is not important and all children have some type of motor skills delay. The system was well received by children, parents and therapists. The evaluation function and the IDSS performed well with the data taken from the participants. However, a few observations for future improvements and implementation of the system with children specifically diagnosed with eye-hand coordination problems are currently being taken into account for the next testing phase of this project. Current Work/Experiments The PI is currently working with the director of research at Casa Colina Hospital for Rehabilitative Medicine in Pomona to design and implement a new study that will test this system using only children with identified eye-hand coordination problems. The study will use the "Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting" and the "Visual-Motor Integration" (VMI) tests for pre/post therapy assessment. As far as the robotic haptic tests, some current modifications to the system include to add more patterns, auditory feedback and to follow patterns on a flat surface using a tablet device.
