Socially Interactive Agents for Robotic Neurorehabilitation Training: Conceptualization and Proof-of-concept Study

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Arora, Rhythm, Prajod, Pooja, Nicora, Matteo Lavit, Panzeri, Daniele, Tauro, Giovanni, Vertechy, Rocco, Malosio, Matteo, André, Elisabeth, Gebhard, Patrick
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Arora, Rhythm
Prajod, Pooja
Nicora, Matteo Lavit
Panzeri, Daniele
Tauro, Giovanni
Vertechy, Rocco
Malosio, Matteo
André, Elisabeth
Gebhard, Patrick
author_facet Arora, Rhythm
Prajod, Pooja
Nicora, Matteo Lavit
Panzeri, Daniele
Tauro, Giovanni
Vertechy, Rocco
Malosio, Matteo
André, Elisabeth
Gebhard, Patrick
contents Individuals with diverse motor abilities often benefit from intensive and specialized rehabilitation therapies aimed at enhancing their functional recovery. Nevertheless, the challenge lies in the restricted availability of neurorehabilitation professionals, hindering the effective delivery of the necessary level of care. Robotic devices hold great potential in reducing the dependence on medical personnel during therapy but, at the same time, they generally lack the crucial human interaction and motivation that traditional in-person sessions provide. To bridge this gap, we introduce an AI-based system aimed at delivering personalized, out-of-hospital assistance during neurorehabilitation training. This system includes a rehabilitation training device, affective signal classification models, training exercises, and a socially interactive agent as the user interface. With the assistance of a professional, the envisioned system is designed to be tailored to accommodate the unique rehabilitation requirements of an individual patient. Conceptually, after a preliminary setup and instruction phase, the patient is equipped to continue their rehabilitation regimen autonomously in the comfort of their home, facilitated by a socially interactive agent functioning as a virtual coaching assistant. Our approach involves the integration of an interactive socially-aware virtual agent into a neurorehabilitation robotic framework, with the primary objective of recreating the social aspects inherent to in-person rehabilitation sessions. We also conducted a feasibility study to test the framework with healthy patients. The results of our preliminary investigation indicate that participants demonstrated a propensity to adapt to the system. Notably, the presence of the interactive agent during the proposed exercises did not act as a source of distraction; instead, it positively impacted users' engagement.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_12035
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Socially Interactive Agents for Robotic Neurorehabilitation Training: Conceptualization and Proof-of-concept Study
Arora, Rhythm
Prajod, Pooja
Nicora, Matteo Lavit
Panzeri, Daniele
Tauro, Giovanni
Vertechy, Rocco
Malosio, Matteo
André, Elisabeth
Gebhard, Patrick
Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
Individuals with diverse motor abilities often benefit from intensive and specialized rehabilitation therapies aimed at enhancing their functional recovery. Nevertheless, the challenge lies in the restricted availability of neurorehabilitation professionals, hindering the effective delivery of the necessary level of care. Robotic devices hold great potential in reducing the dependence on medical personnel during therapy but, at the same time, they generally lack the crucial human interaction and motivation that traditional in-person sessions provide. To bridge this gap, we introduce an AI-based system aimed at delivering personalized, out-of-hospital assistance during neurorehabilitation training. This system includes a rehabilitation training device, affective signal classification models, training exercises, and a socially interactive agent as the user interface. With the assistance of a professional, the envisioned system is designed to be tailored to accommodate the unique rehabilitation requirements of an individual patient. Conceptually, after a preliminary setup and instruction phase, the patient is equipped to continue their rehabilitation regimen autonomously in the comfort of their home, facilitated by a socially interactive agent functioning as a virtual coaching assistant. Our approach involves the integration of an interactive socially-aware virtual agent into a neurorehabilitation robotic framework, with the primary objective of recreating the social aspects inherent to in-person rehabilitation sessions. We also conducted a feasibility study to test the framework with healthy patients. The results of our preliminary investigation indicate that participants demonstrated a propensity to adapt to the system. Notably, the presence of the interactive agent during the proposed exercises did not act as a source of distraction; instead, it positively impacted users' engagement.
title Socially Interactive Agents for Robotic Neurorehabilitation Training: Conceptualization and Proof-of-concept Study
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12035