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2 nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAW SEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

Robots helping children with motor disabilities to reach their learning potential through play: the IROMEC Project experience. Serenella Besio, Francesca Caprino, Elena Laudanna University of Valle D’Aosta, Italy. 2 nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAW SEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009.

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2 nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAW SEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

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  1. Robots helping children with motor disabilities to reach their learning potential through play:the IROMEC Project experience Serenella Besio, Francesca Caprino, Elena Laudanna University of Valle D’Aosta, Italy 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  2. Two projects • IROMEC • IROMEC (Interactive RObotic social MEdiators • as Companions) is a three year project (2006-2009) • co-funded by the European Community within the 6th • Framework Programme. • (RIF. FP6-2005-IST-5 Specific targeted research • project-IROMEC) • ADAPTED ROBOTS PROJECT • is an ongoing project of the University of Valle D’Aosta 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  3. The IROMEC research consortium • Profactor GmbH, Wien (Austria) • Università of Valle d’Aosta (Italy) • University of Siena (Italy) • University of Hertfordshire (Great Britain) • AIT Austrian Instiute of Technology, Wien (Austria) • Robosoft, Bidart (France) • Vilans, Maastricht (The Netherlands) • AIJU Instituto Tecnológico del Juguete, Alicante (Spain) • Risoluta SLL, Cadiz (Spain) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  4. The Adapted Robot Project It is an ongoing project carried out by the Research group on technologies for play of children with disabilities established at the University of Valle D’Aosta The research group – directed by prof. Serenella Besio – is a multidisciplinary team including an engineer, a psychologist, a rehabilitation therapist and two Ph.D students It is located at the Faculty of Education of the University of Valle d’Aosta 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  5. Aim of the two experimental studies To promote play in children with severe motor impairments by overcoming environmental barriers thus enhancing children’s learning potential and their social inclusion 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  6. Why play? Play is the primary occupation in childhood Play is a major driving force of child’s growth (Vygotskij, Piaget) Play is related to all the main developmental areas (cognitive, social, emotional, motor) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  7. Play, education, rehabilitation- 1 Knowledge in the history of pedagogy (Pestalozzi, 1806, Fröbel, 1826; Claparède, 1905) underlines the importance of play for the education of the child considered as a whole, of body and mind In the educational field play has been always applied both as a mean for learning and as an end in itself 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  8. Play, education, rehabilitation - 2 Play-based interventions are largely applied in the clinical context as a medium to achieve a wide range of treatment objectives (e.g. improvement of fine and global motor skills, enhancement of language functions) with children with disabilities, especially in the early years (Schaefer,1994) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  9. Play, education, rehabilitation – 3 The observation of play behavior is a well-known methodology largely applied both in the therapeutic and in the educational contexts as an effective and ecologically sound approach to assess the child in a wide range of areas 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  10. The experience of play deprivation - 1 Children with some kind of disabilities may be prevented from fully developing their play skills, due both to individual and to environmental factors The play deprivation negatively affects the child’s development and can result also in secondary disabilities 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  11. Why ICF-CYas a framework for play and disability • It offers a bio-psychosocial framework • It adopts a language that is common to multiple disciplines • It directly addresses issues related to child development such as play stages and functions • It examines many aspects related to technology as an important mean for individuals’ activity and participation

  12. Play of children with motor disabilities according to the ICF model The importance of Play SOCIAL PLAY OBJECT PLAY INCLUSION IN PLAY • NEUROMUSCULOSKELETAL • VOICE AND SPEECH • PSYCHOMOTOR • (…) PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR PLAY 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  13. Individual Factors and Play BODY FUNCTIONS • Individual factors negatively affecting play in children withmotor impairments: • Impairments in neuromusculoskeletal functions • Impairments in voice and speech functions • Impairments in psychomotor functions • (….) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  14. Individual factors and PlayACTIVITY AND PARTICIPATION • Individual factors negativelyaffecting play in children withmotor impairments • Limitations in mobility • Limitations in communication • Limitations in basic learning • (….) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  15. Environmental factors and play -1 • They can be barriers or facilitators! • Products and Technology for play • Products and Technology for communication • Products and technology for mobility • Products and technology for education • (…) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  16. Environmental factors and play - 2 • They can be barriers or facilitators! • Support and relationships • Attitudes • Services and policies (…) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  17. The Aosta team proposal – 1 Provide the right technologies for play to children with motor impairment thus enabling them to reach their learning and social potential Robotics, thanks to its high degree of interactivity may help children with motor Impairment to play independently, by interaction with the physical environment 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  18. The Aosta team proposal – 2 • Two different approaches can be chosen: • Design of novel robotic technologies for play • (IROMEC project) • Adaptation of existing robotic technologies for play • (Adapted Robots Project) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  19. Technologies applied • IROMEC ROBOT: a novel robotic toy • specifically designed to meet the • special play needs of children • with severe disabilities • Adapted robots: off the shelf toy adapted • through accessible user interfaces 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  20. The IROMEC robot - 1 • The IROMEC robot consists of: • a mobile platform • a configurable interaction module which covers the • platform and can be easily plugged and unplugged • a set of control buttons, allowing user with physical • impairments to tele operate the robot by direct selection • or through other input devices (external switches) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  21. The IROMEC robot - 2 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  22. Adapted Robots • Three different toy robots having a playful and enjoyable toy appearance and promoting in children active engagement and curiosity • They are: • available on the market • playable with the pre-selected scenarios • robust and safe • remote controlled via IR 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  23. Adapted robots: Mr Personality It is a wheeled mobile robot It can display on its colour LCD display different personalities Facial expressions are combined with arms’,head’s and trunk’s movements Mr Personality can move around avoiding obstacles Robot features also include sound, music and pre-recorded messages 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  24. Adapted robots: Mr Personality • In order to make accessible the system, the toy’s • remote control has been adapted in order to be controlled • via an AT device • Further adaptations (to be done) • Modification to visual feedback (faces) • Modification to auditive feedbaks (pre-recorded messages) 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  25. Adapted robots: i-SOBOT – 1 It is a small humanoid toy robot, with a strong focus on expressiveness It can perform a wide range of movements The remote control allows users to create scripts, combining together several movements and then activating the script by pressing a single button It is also equipped with a gyroscopic sensor and a voice recognition system 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  26. Adapted robots: I-Sobot – 2 It has been re-programmed in order to make its functionalities accessible by single switch users Thanks to this adaptation an imitation game has been proposed to a group of motor impaired children playing with their peers 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  27. Adapted robots: Wall-E – 1 It is an appealing movie character with pre stored vocal messages and sounds By mean of an IR remote control it is possible to create more than 1000 different combinations of movement sequences It has 4 sensor for movement detection and 4 sensors for sound recognition 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  28. Adapted robots: Wall-E – 2 Thanks to its obstacle avoidance functionsthe Wall-E robot has been tested in a “Turn Taking” play scenario The movement sequences have been programmed and the sequences codes have been learned by an universal remote control 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  29. Adapted robots: work done • Adaptation of toy robots • Playability and Usability tests • Play Scenarios selection 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  30. Adapted Robots: future work • Development of new play scenarios • Adaptation of other toy robots • Assessment of educative and therapeutic • outcomes of robot assisted play interventions 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  31. IROMEC: work done – 1 • Analysis of Critical Factors • involved in using interactive • robotsfor education and therapy • of children with disabilities • Development of play scenarios • Design of a prototype robot 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  32. IROMEC: work done – 2 • Preliminary tests to evaluate, accessibility, safety and playability of the IROMEC robot • Development of a methodological framework to set up educational and therapy sessions with the IROMEC robot • Experimental trials for the assessment of educational and therapeutic outcomes of robot assisted play sessions 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  33. IROMEC: future work • Assessment of the educative and therapeutic outcomes • of the play sessions with the IROMEC prototype • Development of guidelines, mainly addressed to teachers • and therapists, to set up robot assisted play sessions • with children with disabilities • Validation of a specific software (MACRO-Play) developed to match the play needs of children with disabilities with play scenarios and the available robotic technologies 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

  34. Thank you for your attention! 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Education for All WARSAWSEPTEMBER 22-25, 2009

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