Motion-based technology to support motor skills screening in developing children: A scoping review

Background. Acquiring motor skills is fundamental for children's development since it is linked to cognitive development. However, access to early detection of motor development delays is limited. Aim. This review explores the use and potential of motion-based technology (MBT) as a complement to support and increase access to motor screening in developing children. Methods. Six databases were searched following the PRISMA guidelines to search, select, and assess relevant works where MBT recognised the execution of children's motor skills. Results. 164 studies were analysed to understand the type of MBT used, the motor skills detected, the purpose of using MBT and the age group targeted. Conclusions. There is a gap in the literature aiming to integrate MBT in motor skills development screening and assessment processes. Depth sensors are the prevailing technology offering the largest detection range for children from age 2. Nonetheless, the motor skills detected by MBT represent about half of the motor skills usually observed to screen and assess motor development. Overall, research in this field is underexplored. The use of multimodal approaches, combining various motion-based sensors, may support professionals in the health domain and increase access to early detection programmes.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA

A scoping review and a taxonomy of the use of motion-based technology centered on the end user. A special focus on elderly health

Motion-based technology (MBT) has been applied in the last decades with enormous success in a high number of applications. Its use continues growing and is specially interesting in the health area. Nowadays, its employment is being more and more specialised with respect to the profile of the end user (i.e., child, adolescent/teenager, adult or elderly). This paper first reviews the use of MBT centered in the end user from a global perspective. It also proposes a taxonomy that allows cataloguing the MBT employment directed to the end user. Then, from these results, the paper centers the review on the MBT application aiming to improve the health of elderly. The results highlighted in this paper can help to a better understanding of MBT, especially when it is applied thinking in elderly as the end users.This study is partially funded by the Universidad de Málaga with the national project Bio4Res (PID2021-125184NB-I00) from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci ́on de Espa ̃na (MCIN). Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA

Head-mounted display for clinical evaluation of neck movement validation with Meta Quest 2

Neck disorders have a significant impact on people because of their high incidence. The head-mounted display (HMD) systems, such as Meta Quest 2, grant access to immersive virtual reality (iRV) experiences. This study aims to validate the Meta Quest 2 HMD system as an alternative for screening neck movement in healthy people. The device provides data about the position and orientation of the head and, thus, the neck mobility around the three anatomical axes. The authors develop a VR application that solicits participants to perform six neck movements (rotation, flexion, and lateralization on both sides), which allows the collection of corresponding angles. An InertiaCube3 inertial measurement unit (IMU) is also attached to the HMD to compare the criterion to a standard. The mean absolute error (MAE), the percentage of error (%MAE), and the criterion validity and agreement are calculated. The study shows that the average absolute errors do not exceed 1° (average = 0.48 ± 0.09°). The rotational movement’s average %MAE is 1.61 ± 0.82%. The head orientations obtain a correlation between 0.70 and 0.96. The Bland–Altman study reveals good agreement between the HMD and IMU systems. Overall, the study shows that the angles provided by the Meta Quest 2 HMD system are valid to calculate the rotational angles of the neck in each of the three axes. The obtained results demonstrate an acceptable error percentage and a very minimal absolute error when measuring the degrees of neck rotation; therefore, the sensor can be used for screening neck disorders in healthy peoplePartial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

From start to finish: teenagers on the autism spectrum developing their own collaborative game

Purpose: This study investigates how teenagers on the autism spectrum respond to their involvement in the creation of a collaborative game, meeting the curriculum requirements in programming at secondary level in England. Design/methodology/approach: Two autistic teenagers were involved in participatory design processes to elaborate and develop together a collaborative game of their choice using the visual programming software, Kodu Game Lab. Findings: With the support of adults (teachers and the researcher), the participants were able to demonstrate and strengthen their participation, problem-solving and programming skills. The participants expressed their preferences through their attitudes towards the tasks. They created a game where the players do not need to initiate any interaction between each other to complete a level. Furthermore, the students naturally decided to work separately and interacted more with the adults than with each other.Research limitations: This is a small case study and so cannot be generalized. However, it can serve as starting point for further studies that involve students with autism in the development of interactive games.Practical implications: It has been shown that disengaged students can develop various skills through their involvement in software programming.Originality/value: Overall, this paper presents the involvement of teenagers on the autism spectrum in the initial design and development of a collaborative game with an approach that shaped, and was shaped by, the students’ interests. Although collaboration was emphasised in the intended learning outcomes for the game, as well as through the design process, this proved difficult to achieve in practice suggesting that students with autism may require stronger scaffolding to engage in collaborative learning.<br/

This is how i want to learn: high functioning autistic teens co-designing a serious game

This paper presents a project that developed a Serious Game with a Natural User Interface, via a Participatory Design approach with two adolescents with High-Functioning Autism (HFA). The project took place in a highly specialized school for young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN). The teenagers were empowered by assigning them specific roles across several sessions. They could express their voice as user, informant, designer and tester. As a result, teachers and young people developed a digital educational game based on their experience as video gamers to improve academic skills in Geography. This paper contributes by describing the sensitive and flexible approach to the design process which promoted stakeholders' participation

Using motion capture technology to assess locomotor development in children

Objective Motor and cognitive development share biological background within the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. Monitoring motor development is relevant to identify children at risk of developmental delays. However, access to timely assessment is prevented by its availability and cost. Affordable motion capture technology may provide an alternative to human assessment. Methods MotorSense uses this technology to guide and assess children executing age-related developmental motor tasks. It incorporates advanced heuristics informed by pattern recognition principles based on the developmental sequences of motor skills. MotorSense was evaluated with 16 4–6 year-old children from a rural primary school. Results A total of 506 jumps, 2415 steps and 831 hops were analysed. The analysis illustrates MotorSense Accuracy (MA), recognising jump forward (89.96%), jump high (83.34%), jump sideway (85.63%), hop (74.58%) and jog (92.34%), is as good as the sensor's precision. The analysis of the tasks’ execution shows a high level of agreement between human and MotorSense's assessment on jump forward (91%), jump high (99%), jump sideway (93%), hop (94%) and jog (92%). Conclusions MotorSense helps address the shortage of affordable technologies to support the assessment of motor development using graded age-related developmental motor tasks. Furthermore, it could contribute towards the tele-detection of motor developmental delays

Designing an educational game for and with teenagers with high functioning autism

This paper describes a Participatory Design approach which involved teenagers with High functioning Autism in the design of an educational game to learn about Geography via the use of Natural User Interfaces. We designed sessions with specific activities which were guided by the interaction between the teachers and students on the day. The corresponding activities implicitly shaped the roles that each stakeholder undertook such as user, informant, tester, co-designer, motivator or facilitator. As a result, adults and young people together designed and tested a digital educational game based on their expertise as programmers, teachers, and video gamers, respectively. The project took place in a highly specialized school for young people with Special Educational Needs. This paper contributes by highlighting the importance of supporting students to participate on their own terms. Moreover, equity in participation is not about sharing all decisions but about managing and respecting the different types of expertise that each partner brings to the design team

Crazy Chefs!: videojuego serio gamificado basado en tecnología de captura de movimientos para fomentar la socialización y el entrenamiento físico de personas mayores

Uno de los principales objetivos del programa marco de la UE Horizon Europa persigue mejorar la salud y el bienestar de los ciudadanos usando soluciones innovadoras para prevenir, diagnosticar, tratar o curar una enfermedad. Cuando consideramos el colectivo de personas mayores, el bienestar está asociado a la realización periódica de actividades físicas e intelectuales junto a tener una vida social activa. En este trabajo se presenta un juego serio que busca mejorar la socialización de las personas mayores a la vez que les motiva a realizar una actividad física. El juego se crea usando tecnología de desarrollo de videojuegos y de captura de movimientos para crear una experiencia de usuario en la cual varias personas mayores deben interactuar y necesitan colaborar forzosamente para resolver determinadas tareas que igualmente demandan realizar un esfuerzo físico adaptado a sus edades.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

What technology for autism needs to be invented? Idea generation from the autism community via the ASCmeI.T. app

In autism and technology research, technologies are often developed by researchers targeting specific social and communication difficulties experienced by individuals with autism. In some technology-based projects, children and adults with autism as well as parents, carers, teachers, and other professionals, are involved as users, informers, and (more rarely) as co-designers. However, much less is known about the views of the autism community about the needs they identify as areas that could be addressed through innovative technological solutions. This paper describes the ASCmeI.T. project which encourages members of the autism community to download a free app to answer the question: If there was one new technology to help people with autism, what would it be? This project provides a model of e-participation in which people from the autism community are involved from the start so that new developments in digital technologies can be better matched to support the needs of users

Visual user interfaces for human motion

Visual interfaces are important in human motion to capture it, to visualize it, and to facilitate motion-based interactive systems. This workshop aims at providing a platform for researchers, designers and users to discuss the challenges related to the design of visual interfaces for motion-based interaction, in terms of visualization (e.g. graphical user interface, multimodal feedback, evaluation) and processing (e.g., data collection, treatment, interpretation, recognition) of human movement (e.g., motor skills, amplitude of movements, limitations). We will share experiences, lessons learned and elaborate tools for developing all the possible applications going forward