2008 Woodie Awards
Robots offer mobility to impaired children
Jessica Delli Santi
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: News
Two university professors have developed kid-sized robots to provide increased movement to children who have trouble crawling and walking.
Cole Galloway, physical therapy professor and co-creator of the UD1 robot, said the model is designed for babies born with mobility impairments due to health problems such as stroke, brain damage or premature birth. Any baby that experiences a delay with walking or crawling or is put in the "at risk" category after birth is the focus of the project, he said.
Since there are no power wheelchairs for babies, the use of robot enhancement allows babies to use their hands to move around, Galloway said.
He said his background contributed to the idea.
"I spend all day with babies, studying infant development from birth to five months old," Galloway said. "Everything from kicking, to flapping their arms, to them touching things."
Sunil Agrawal, mechanical engineer professor and co-creator of UD1, said the intent of UD1's creation was to replicate mobile robots for baby usage.
Within just one year of meeting each other, Agrawal and Galloway published a paper which lead to the conception of the UD1 project.
The robot is controlled by a joystick. A baby sits in a seat and pulls back on the joystick to make the robot go forward. The robot has small red "eyes" that are sonar and infrared sensors that allow the robot to sense its environment, Galloway said.
The robot is intelligent, and can override the babies' control if it is about to run over something or faces another type of obstacle. After the danger has passed, it gives control back to the baby, Agrawal said.
There is a second joystick given to the caregiver, who can change the controls if necessary, he said.
Agrawal said the robot is designed for children four to 10 months old and weighs up to 20 pounds.
The UD1 was tested at the university's Early Learning Center. One study involved approximately 12 infants who received three or four lessons per week using the robots, Galloway said.
Cole Galloway, physical therapy professor and co-creator of the UD1 robot, said the model is designed for babies born with mobility impairments due to health problems such as stroke, brain damage or premature birth. Any baby that experiences a delay with walking or crawling or is put in the "at risk" category after birth is the focus of the project, he said.
Since there are no power wheelchairs for babies, the use of robot enhancement allows babies to use their hands to move around, Galloway said.
He said his background contributed to the idea.
"I spend all day with babies, studying infant development from birth to five months old," Galloway said. "Everything from kicking, to flapping their arms, to them touching things."
Sunil Agrawal, mechanical engineer professor and co-creator of UD1, said the intent of UD1's creation was to replicate mobile robots for baby usage.
Within just one year of meeting each other, Agrawal and Galloway published a paper which lead to the conception of the UD1 project.
The robot is controlled by a joystick. A baby sits in a seat and pulls back on the joystick to make the robot go forward. The robot has small red "eyes" that are sonar and infrared sensors that allow the robot to sense its environment, Galloway said.
The robot is intelligent, and can override the babies' control if it is about to run over something or faces another type of obstacle. After the danger has passed, it gives control back to the baby, Agrawal said.
There is a second joystick given to the caregiver, who can change the controls if necessary, he said.
Agrawal said the robot is designed for children four to 10 months old and weighs up to 20 pounds.
The UD1 was tested at the university's Early Learning Center. One study involved approximately 12 infants who received three or four lessons per week using the robots, Galloway said.
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