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Does appearance matter? Validating engagement in therapy protocols with socially interactive humanoid robots

Upper-body rehabilitation is a prime component of therapy sessions for individuals diagnosed with a neurological disorder. One of the most common causes of mobility impairments in children is Cerebral Palsy; it affects 3.1 of 1000 of those born in the US annually. Thus, the development of effective therapies is of significant interest, especially for this target population. Prior research has validated that early intervention enhances the individual's quality of life. A recent innovative approach to upper-body rehabilitation therapy is SuperPop VR™, a virtual reality serious game shown to increase motivation and performance in children during physical therapy sessions. Previously, a humanoid robotic playmate, the DARwIn-OP, was used to interact with users during game sessions as a socially interactive therapy coach. The goal of the study in this paper is to determine whether appearance matters — i.e. if a different robotic platform is utilized as a therapy coach, will there be a difference in user performance? The kinematic parameter of movement time is used in this analysis. We also analyzed user intrinsic motivation with and without the humanoid robot. The results show that no statistical difference was found in user performance across platforms, thus indicating that socially interaction versus appearance is the primary criteria for enhancing rehabilitation goals when integrating a robot with SuperPop VR.