Development of a robotic handwriting assistant for children with movement disorder

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) impairs motor skills in children, particularly handwriting, which is a significant part of school activities and personal development. Current robotic assistants often lack a fully physical interaction or tangible result, thereby limiting their effectiveness in coordination development similar to handwriting. To address this gap, a robotic assistant capable of physical input and output could enhance development. This paper presents the development of a robotic handwriting assistant to aid children with DCD. The prototype is a planar robot controlled via a joystick capable of covering an 8.5" by 11" paper sheet. The paper provides insight into the causal real-world context of the prototype’s development and discusses the designs considerations, the conception and the control. It concludes with intial results and the future for the project.