Short Description: A social robot that promotes spontaneous use of impaired upper limbs in stroke patients with the Learned Non-Use attitude. This social robot is user-friendly, cost-efficient, reduces therapists’ workloads, and provides an objective way of measuring patient progress.
Lessons Learned: 1) Through our interviews with therapists, we learned there is a need for technology that incorporates cognitive training into stroke therapy, focused on patients’ specific needs and goals. 2) Devices that promote patient independence are more readily accepted. 3) Technologies that are not user-friendly, even if sophisticated, are quickly abandoned.
Names and Affiliation of Team members:
Lab director: Michelle Johnson, PhD, Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Patience Yeboah, Doctoral Student, University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Bioengineering
Ray Liu, Undergraduate Student, University of Pennsylvania, School of Arts and Sciences, Cognitive Science
Helen Zhou, Undergraduate student, University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
