My Gym Robot

The paper describes an experimental study to investigate the potential of robotic devices in enhancing physical rehabilitation. Nowadays “robotic active assist” therapy for movement recovery mainly works at the level of repetitive, voluntary movement attempts by the patient, and mechanical assistance by the robot. Our study describes the experience of physical rehabilitation of a 2 year child with severe cognitive and physical-functional delays. The therapeutic protocol consisted in movement recovery sessions performed with the help of a baby seal robot in which repetitive exercises were combined with cognitive tasks based on sensorial and emotive stimulation. The paper describes the results of the study and offers a reflection of possible future directions of robot assisted therapy.