Use of robotics as a learning aid for disabled children

Abstract

Severe disabled children have little chance of environmental and social exploration and discovery, and due to this lack of interaction and independency, it may lead to an idea that they are unable to do anything by themselves. Trying to help these children on this situation, educational robotics can offer and aid, once it can give them a certain degree of independency in exploration of environment. The system developed in this work allows the child to transmit the commands to a robot. Sensors placed on the child’s body can obtain information from head movement or muscle signals to command the robot to carry out tasks. With the use of this system, the disabled children get a better cognitive development and social interaction, balancing in a certain way, the negative effects of their disabilities.