Digital Life demonstrates smart toys during DDW '22
25-10-2022
The Magic Monster smart toy: not a creepy toy but a therapeutic tool to allow children with cerebral palsy to do hand exercises at home in a playful way, customizing the complexity. Tamara Pinos Cisneros, researcher at the research group Digital Life, among others, of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, demonstrated this Monster with her research team at the Embassy of Public Health during Dutch Design Week 2022.
SMART TOYS
For people with cerebral palsy, continuing physical therapy at home can be stressful, challenging and non-motivating, especially for children. Researchers and students from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, University of Utrecht, University of Twente and partners are investigating how to design smart toys to motivate children with cerebral palsy (CP) to continue hand therapy at home.
MAGIC WITH AI
With the Magic Monster, children can play but also learn magic tricks. The monster is a magic assistant that consists of a smartphone inside a stuffed toy. It uses the phone's sensors to collect motion data. Using AI, it can detect hand movements and tailor the play complexity to the child's abilities.
THAT TASTES LIKE MORE
During the past few years of the pandemic, the need for such tools has intensified to offer the treatment needed by children with CP as a fun and empowering experience. This allows them to remain children and enjoy their childhood despite the challenges around them.
The Magic Monster -one of the prototypes from the Toys 4 Therapy project- is part of Tamara Pinos Cisneros' doctoral research. The entire research team intends to later apply the knowledge about play, motivation and AI gathered in this project to other types of therapies and disorders.