Interactive Rehabilitation Carpet for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) can experience complex gait deviations and need to go through intensive lower extremity rehabilitation exercises to develop and enhance their motor control in daily living. However, most of them cannot persist in the regular repetitive exercise sessions using hospital-based equipment. To provide a playful and attractive rehabilitation environment, an interactive carpet with interchangeable covers and varied step lengths is introduced to motivate children for lower extremity training. The vibrant colours, engaging games, visual and audio feedback are designed to increase the carpet-human interaction. This carpet can support gait exercise with five types of step lengths, which improves its accessibility and usability for children with CP.