AUTHOR=Raz Dor , Barkan-Slater Shirel , Baum-Cohen Ilanit , Vissel Gal , Lahav-Raz Yeela , Shapiro Amir , Levy-Tzedek Shelly TITLE=A novel socially assistive robotic platform for cognitive-motor exercises for individuals with Parkinson's Disease: a participatory-design study from conception to feasibility testing with end users JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2023.1267458 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2023.1267458 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=

The potential of socially assistive robots (SAR) to assist in rehabilitation has been demonstrated in contexts such as stroke and cardiac rehabilitation. Our objective was to design and test a platform that addresses specific cognitive-motor training needs of individuals with Parkinson’s disease (IwPD). We used the participatory design approach, and collected input from a total of 62 stakeholders (IwPD, their family members and clinicians) in interviews, brainstorming sessions and in-lab feasibility testing of the resulting prototypes. The platform we developed includes two custom-made mobile desktop robots, which engage users in concurrent cognitive and motor tasks. IwPD (n = 16) reported high levels of enjoyment when using the platform (median = 5/5) and willingness to use the platform in the long term (median = 4.5/5). We report the specifics of the hardware and software design as well as the detailed input from the stakeholders.