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Assessing childRen manIpulation and Exploration skiLls

Project description

Multisensory cube to assess children manipulation

Studying how children manipulate objects is crucial for understanding child development and the early detection of sensorimotor impairments. However, current methods do not fully capture all critical aspects of manipulation, such as object motion and applied forces. Additionally, these methods are often expensive and not designed for use with children. The ERC-funded ARIEL project will develop myCube, a multisensory cube for the quantitative assessment of object manipulation. It will be engaging for children and offered at a low cost, catering to both neurotypical children and those with neurological and developmental disorders. The cube will provide vibratory and auditory feedback and feature raised patterns on its surface, allowing for haptic exploration.

Objective

Investigating object manipulation is crucial for the comprehension of child development and the early assessment of sensorimotor impairments. However, no current available methods allow a complete and widespread characterization of the process: (i) they do not measure all the core components of manipulation, such as the object motion and the forces applied; (ii) they are too expensive due to the cost of the devices or the need of expert annotators; (iii) they are not designed for children. ARIEL (Assessing childRen manIpulation and Exploration skiLls) aims to develop myCube (multisensory Cube) a tool enabling quantitative assessment of object manipulation, designed to be engaging for children and accessible at low cost, both for neurotypical children and those with neurological and developmental disorders. MyCube is a lightweight sensorized cube measuring its orientation in space and the position and pressure of tactile contact points on its faces. It produces vibratory and auditory feedback and presents raised patterns on the surface, which can be haptically explored. The myCube design allows for easy customization of the stimulation, with a simple way of substituting the patterned silicon faces. Stemming from the promising results of the ERC wHiSPER project in the assessment of individual haptic exploration, ARIEL will: (i) develop the myCube device, software, and haptic assessment procedures; (ii) validate its effectiveness in a large cohort of school-aged healthy children and a group of children with cerebral palsy in collaboration with expert clinicians, and (iii) plan a feasible market implementation to maximize its impact. The resulting myCube kit, composed of two myCubes, the software for data analysis, and the haptic assessment testing procedure, will represent a holistic tool including all the desired features for a low-cost, non-invasive, precise, and customizable assessment of children’s haptic skills in manipulation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) ERC-2024-POC

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Host institution

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
Net EU contribution
€ 150 000,00
Address
VIA MOREGO 30
16163 Genova
Italy
Region
Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)