A mechatronic platform for early diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders

Authors: Campolo, Domenico1; Laschi, Cecilia2; Keller, Flavio3; Guglielmelli, Eugenio1

Source: Advanced Robotics, Volume 21, Number 10, 2007 , pp. 1131-1150(20)

Publisher: VSP, an imprint of Brill

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Abstract:

Neurodevelopmental engineering is a new interdisciplinary research area at the intersection of developmental neuroscience and biomedical engineering, mainly concerned with quantitative analysis and modeling of human behaviour during neural development. Along such a line, our research focuses on early diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, typically diagnosed after 2-3 years of age. With the purpose of beating new paths in the emerging field of neurodevelopmental engineering, we propose a novel approach to the assessment of basic patterns of goal-directed actions in developing babies, in the 0-24 months of age range, both under laboratory and naturalistic conditions. In particular, we propose novel mechatronic devices, either wearable or embedded into toys, for ecological, unobtrusive assessment of infant behavior. Guidelines for the design of a particular toy embedding both kinematics and force-sensing capabilities as well as of experimental scenarios where similar instrumented toys can be deployed are provided. Preliminary experiments for the technical validation of an early prototype in ecological conditions are also presented.

Keywords: NEURODEVELOPMENTAL ENGINEERING; ECOLOGICAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT; INERTIAL/MAGNETIC MOTION TRACKING; FORCE SENSING; AUTISM

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156855307781389392

Affiliations: 1: Biomedical Robotics & EMC Laboratory and Developmental Neuroscience and Neural Plasticity Laboratory, Università Campus Bio-Medico, 00155 Roma, Italy 2: Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems (ARTS) Lab, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy 3: Developmental Neuroscience and Neural Plasticity Laboratory, Università Campus Bio-Medico, 00155 Roma, Italy

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