A great piece of news from Canada this week is about research and in Edmonton, Alberta, to support disabled children.
Researchers at the University of Alberta are working with students with disabilities such as cerebral palsy with the aid of robots.
“We are trying to give children an opportunity to experience discovery and manipulation,” said professor Al Cook of the University of Alberta.
“Children who are born with cerebral palsy often have difficulty using their hands so they miss out on all the things that children do with their hands – explore objects, play with objects and manipulate them,” said Proff. Cook, professor of speech pathology and audiology.
“They don’t get to participate or play in those activities so what we’re doing is using robots to help children discover and play and participate rather than just observe.”
Chelsea Hagen, 14, of Edmonton is a student with cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair to get around and has extremely limited use of her hands.
In a study conducted by Cook and Kim Adams, assistant professor of assistive technology at the U of A faculty, it was found that the robots, along with a communicative device attached to Hagen’s wheelchair, have helped her learn immensely in school especially learning math.
“It has helped me to do my reading,” Hagen typed into her device.
Hagen said thanks to the device, she is dong “great” in school and loves all her subjects.
The robot is controlled by a device connected to Hagen’s wheelchair – she moves her head to select actions and answers to the communicative device and the robot.
The robot allows her to move objects and measure them – the technology is being called Rehab Dialogue.
