Jerry the Bear: A Robotic Platform for At-Home Therapy and Education for Children with Type 1 Diabetes

 描述（由申请人提供）：Sproutel的SBIR第一阶段申请的目标是开发一个课程，提供糖尿病自我管理的专家教育内容，通过基于游戏的学习原则，在一个吸引人的泰迪熊机器人角色中提供，该角色专为被诊断患有1型糖尿病的幼儿设计。1型糖尿病（T1 D）影响大约1/500的儿童，每年有超过12，000名10岁以下的儿童被诊断患有这种疾病。早期干预可以改善自我管理，提高自信心，减少个人和家庭压力，对疾病管理和健康结果具有短期和长期的积极影响。然而，获得现有的干预是有限的成本和熟练的医疗保健专业人员的可用性。杰里熊（商标）是一个互动的毛绒机器人，提供教育内容的糖尿病护理 in an engaging从事format格式.基于游戏的学习已被证明在改善医疗保健结果方面非常有效，最近的研究表明，儿童将机器人视为他们的同伴，能够提供动力和情感支持。通过在Jerry the Bear中嵌入基于游戏的教育，我们的目标是使用一个可访问的，低成本的家庭平台，教授糖尿病自我管理程序，并在3-7岁的儿童中建立信心和减轻压力。到目前为止，我们已经制造了300个早期原型熊，并将它们交付给100个家庭和8个糖尿病营地的350多名T1 D儿童。这些原型熊已经证明了我们的概念，但只包含两个故事书模块的简短课程。该应用程序的预期成果将包括完成杰里熊的课程，增加用于测量参与度的活动记录软件，并完成一项试点使用研究，以衡量儿童对杰里熊的反应。有了这些结果，我们将有能力申请试点临床试验的第二阶段资金，以测试熊杰里提高儿童对糖尿病的了解、提高他们的自信心、减少他们与疾病相关的压力和家庭冲突的假设。疾病。建立在糖尿病教育的既定原则基础上，同时解决成本，可及性和动机的限制，我们方法的重要性是为T1 D幼儿创造一个吸引人的，可及的产品，以及该项目中开发的技术对患有其他慢性疾病的儿童的潜在益处。该应用程序在其商业化平台设备的方法方面具有高度创新性，该平台设备以非常具有成本效益的价格点结合了基于游戏的学习、社交辅助机器人、活动记录、基于家庭的治疗的原理。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this SBIR Phase I application from Sproutel is to develop a curriculum for providing expert educational content on diabetes self-management to be delivered via principles of game-based learning in an appealing teddy bear robotic character designed for young children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) affects approximately 1 in 500 children and each year over 12,000 children under the age of 10 are diagnosed with this disease. Early intervention that improves self-management, raises self-confidence, and reduces personal and family stress has both short and long-term positive effects on disease management and health outcomes. However, access to existing intervention is limited the cost and availability of skilled healthcare professionals. Jerry the Bear(tm) is an interactive plush robot that provides educational content on diabetes care in an engaging format. Game-based learning has been demonstrated to be highly effective at improving healthcare outcomes, and recent research has shown that children perceive robots they engage with as companions, capable of providing motivation and emotional support. By embedding game-based education within Jerry the Bear, our goal is to teach diabetes self-management procedures and to build confidence and reduce stress in children aged 3-7, using an accessible, low- cost, at-home platform. To date we have fabricated 300 early prototype bears and delivered them to more than 350 children with T1D in 100 families and 8 diabetes camps. These prototype bears have proved our concept, but contain only an abbreviated curriculum of two storybook modules. The expected outcomes of this application will include the completed curriculum for Jerry the Bear, the addition of activity logging software for measuring engagement, and completing a pilot use study to gauge children's reactions to Jerry the Bear. With these outcomes, we will be positioned well to apply for Phase II funding for a pilot clinical trial to test hypotheses that Jerry the Bear improves children's understanding of diabetes, improves their self-confidence, and reduces their disease-related stress and family conflict around the disease. Building upon established principles of diabetes education while addressing the limitations of cost, accessibility, and motivation, the significance of our approach is to creae an engaging, accessible product for young children with T1D, and the potential benefits of the technologies developed within this project for children with other chronic illnesses. The application is highly innovative in its approach to commercialize a platform device that incorporates principles of game- based learning, socially assistive robotics, activity logging, home-based therapy, at a very cost- effective price point.