Implementation and Evaluation of a Motivational Robotic Coach for Repetitive Stroke Rehabilitation

Abstract

Repetitive, individual exercises can improve the functional ability of stroke survivors over the long term. With the aim of providing extra motivation to adhere to repetitive, individual rehabilitation, this paper presents a robotic coach for stroke rehabilitation. Our system uses the Pepper robot and performs one of twelve data-driven coaching policies. The policies were learned from human-human observations of professional stroke physiotherapists and provide high-level personalisation based on user information and training context. A within subjects evaluation of the system was conducted in-person involving short interactions with 3 stroke survivors. The system was able to engage the target end users and there were indications that decreased workload could be possible when using the system compared to exercising alone.