An infant smart-mobile system to encourage kicking movements in infants at-risk of cerebral palsy

Abstract

Observations of spontaneous kicking patterns in infants have presented valuable insights into their development. At times, these kicking patterns can detect potential developmental delays in at-risk infants to help support diagnosis and intervention. However, the prevalence of developmental disabilities has increased and a protocol for early diagnosis is still not widely available outside of direct clinical observations. This paper presents a mobile system that aims at providing a prompt method for detecting atypical kicking patterns in at-risk infants. The Infant Smart-Mobile uses a robotic mobile coupled with wearable sensors for monitoring infant leg movements. We test the feasibility of the Infant Smart-Mobile by evaluating it with respect to data collected from a robotic humanoid designed to simulate kicking in a manner similar to that of infants with typical or atypical motor behavior.