A Technological Platform for Neurodevelopmental Studies

Concurrent development of sensory and motor abilities leads to a sequence of developmental milestones in infants, corresponding to increasing levels of acquired skills like manipulation, planning and anticipation skills, capabilities of coordinating multiple and mobile frames of reference, detecting and relating affordances, etc. In this work a novel technological platform for neurodevelopmental studies is designed and developed. The main goal of this platform is to provide neuroscientists with novel, quantitative, objective and cost-effective tools for the unobtrusive and ecological assessment of behavioural development in infants to understand mechanisms behind sensory-motor coordination in typically development infants as well as in infants with neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular Autism. A set of sensorized devices for human motor behaviour and neurodevelopmental milestones assessment is designed and developed: wearable devices and smart toys. For all these devices, the design criteria are discussed taking into account their final use: monitoring natural movement of a large number of babies in a natural environment. These devises have been designed to operate as standalone or in conjunction with other devices, in fact the assessment of neurodevelopmental milestones will be made possible not just by a single, perhaps sophisticated, device but by a multimodal assessment of different perceptual and motor domains. Finally three application of the proposed platform are presented and data discussed.