title: Quantitative Evaluation of Performance during Robot-assisted Treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Methodologies, Models and Algorithms for Patients Rehabilitation".
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The great potential of robots in extracting quantitative and meaningful data is not always exploited in clinical practice. The aim of the present work is to describe a simple parameter to assess the performance of subjects during upper limb robotic training exploiting data automatically recorded by the robot, with no additional effort for patients and clinicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen children affected by cerebral palsy (CP) performed a training with Armeo®Spring. Each session was evaluated with P, a simple parameter that depends on the overall performance recorded, and median and interquartile values were computed to perform a group analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median (interquartile) values of P significantly increased from 0.27 (0.21) at T0 to 0.55 (0.27) at T1 . This improvement was functionally validated by a significant increase of the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The parameter described here was able to show variations in performance over time and enabled a quantitative evaluation of motion abilities in a way that is reliable with respect to a well-known clinical scale.
authors.affiliation: Elisabetta Peri, Via G. Colombo 40, 20133 Milano (Mi), Italy, E-mail: elisabetta.peri@polimi.it.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peri
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Biffi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maghini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Servodio Iammarrone
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Germiniasi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedrocchi
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Turconi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012371:Robotics; D018401:Sample Size; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Assessment; cerebral palsy; rehabilitation; robotics; upper limb