Evaluation of a Mobile Robot Platform for TeleRehabilitation Flo Prospective Trials

To extend the geographic reach of clinicians, from urban hospitals to distant clinics, and to increase the objectivity of diagnostics, when applied to pediatric patients with upper extremity impairments, we propose a series of tests to validate the need and methods for the Lil'Flo robotic system. Lil'Flo is comprised of a humanoid robot on a mobile base, designed to enable interactions with upper extremity impaired pediatric patients via telepresence. We will first validate that the humanoid portion of the system improves telepresence interactions when compared to a screen and camera alone. We will also work to validate the design choices inherent in the robot, initially focusing on whether a dynamic face increases interaction and trust from a patient to the robot. For both tests, we will enroll both typical and atypical subjects, half of whom will first see the system in one configuration, half in the other. Subjects will be asked to perform tasks by an operator (on the system's screen), such as playing "Simon says" and target point touching on the robot. Subjects will then be presented with the system in the opposite configuration and the tests will be repeated. Comparative performance of the system in each configuration will then be assessed via video recording and surveys for each test. During testing, subjects will be recorded by on system and third person cameras as well as, when available, motion capture devices. This data will be used to build a perception pipeline to aid in diagnostics.