CareToy: An Intelligent Baby Gym: Home-Based Intervention for Infants at Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This article describes the design of an innovative system for early intervention (EI) at home in infancy. The aim is to develop a smart device capable of promoting and measuring the actions of infants in the first months of life. The CareToy system, inspired by a commercially available gym for infants and equipped with a variety of sensors, can provide an intensive, individualized, home-based and family-centered EI program remotely telemonitored by clinicians. An array of sensors measures the activity of infants inside the gym. The sensor signals related to infant's movement, interaction with toys, and pressure distribution are acquired and processed in real time to classify the infant's activities and behavior. Rewards (feedback) are provided to the infants on the basis of their activity. Data are interpreted offline in terms of clinical meaning, and experimental tests are also reported.