Transforming Robot-mediated Telerehabilitation: Citizen Science for Rehabilitation

In the researchers' words

The purpose of this study is to advance upper limb robot-mediated tele-rehabilitation for patients recovering from stroke by empowering them through active science participation. By varying the tasks' features and affordances of a platform that combines a low-cost haptic device on one hand, and an online citizen science platform on the other, investigators will evaluate different strategies for social telerehabilitation. the two fundamental modes of social interaction - competition and cooperation - in addition to a control condition. Specifically, citizen science activities will be performed by competing, cooperating, or isolated users, and their rehabilitation effectiveness examined. Such effectiveness will be measured by (i) participants' rehabilitation performance (inferred from sensorimotor data acquired through the platform and directly quantified by a supervising therapist); (ii) participants' motivations to contribute (measured through surveys administered online); and (iii) participants' emotional well-being and sense of self-esteem (measured through online surveys).