Socially Assistive Robot to Administer and Assess the Timed Up and Go Test: A Feasibility Study

Abstract In standard clinical protocols, the result of neuromotor rehabilitation programs is evaluated through validated clinical scales and tests able to measure the motor performance of the patients and monitor their improvements over time. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is one of the most common assessments used to evaluate patients’ dynamic balance, as well as their mobility. However, in its traditional version, the TUG test does not provide quantitative information on gait performances—only subjectively observed by the clinician—and does not measure the timing of the different phases involved in its execution. The availability of additional quantitative information would indeed be useful for the clinicians to formulate a more accurate assessment of patient performance and define a personalized treatment plan. In this sense, the use of Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) could help improving the assessment of patient performance, relieving at the same time the physiotherapists from time consuming tasks. The goal of this feasibility study is twofold: (1) to assess the quality of the TUG functionality implemented on the robot from a technical standpoint and (2) to evaluate the perception of the “R1-TUG” solution from its potential end-users point of view, in terms of usability and acceptability. A set of tests involving a sample of healthy volunteers revealed that the adoption of a SAR as an assessment tool, could improve the ability of the physiotherapist to objectively assess the subject’s movement performance while ensuring an adequate level of usability and acceptability from the participants. This work represents a promising result for the future use of the robotic solutions within a rehabilitation context.