A user-centered methodology approach for the development of robotic assistants for pervasive unsupervised occupational therapy

Robotic assistants are programmable automatons that support different procedures that humans might find dangerous, impossible to perform, or perhaps not with the desired precision. The creation of robotic assistants for application in various fields has grown significantly in the last decade. Although many studies have opted to use already manufactured robots with features that can be adapted to specific needs, there are also a large number of studies that have opted to design robotic assistants with functionalities specifically oriented to their research (ad hoc). In this paper, we present a new methodology for the development of robotic assistants oriented toward the support of pervasive occupational therapies for patients with some kind of developmental disorder. Contrary to linear or sequential methodologies that do not allow for adaptability during development, this methodology uses principles of agile methodologies and user-centered development (UCD) leading to iterative, incremental, and adaptive development. A previous work by the same authors implemented a linear methodology and the results in the experiment with the end-users (parents and children with some kind of developmental disorder) showed that the lack of adaptability led to the construction of a new version from scratch involving time and effort for the developers. From this experience, this new methodology has been, tested and validated with the development of a robotic assistant to support unsupervised pervasive therapies for children with ADHD in common scenarios within the home. This new UCD methodology allows involving end-users during the development process. The results obtained show that this approach offers several advantages in terms of efficiency during the development of the robotic assistant; moreover, the validation of the final deliverable meets the expectations of the therapeutic requirements and also of the end-user.