An infant smart-mobile system to encourage kicking movements in infants at-risk of cerebral palsy

Observations of spontaneous kicking patterns in infants have presented valuable insights into their development. At times, these kicking patterns can detect potential developmental delays in at-risk infants to help support diagnosis and intervention. However, the prevalence of developmental disabilities has increased and a protocol for early diagnosis is still not widely available outside of direct clinical observations. This paper presents a mobile system that aims at providing a prompt method for detecting atypical kicking patterns in at-risk infants. The Infant Smart-Mobile uses a robotic mobile coupled with wearable sensors for monitoring infant leg movements. We test the feasibility of the Infant Smart-Mobile by evaluating it with respect to data collected from a robotic humanoid designed to simulate kicking in a manner similar to that of infants with typical or atypical motor behavior.