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Researchers at the University of Helsinki report that they have developed a smart jumpsuit or “onesie” that accurately measures the spontaneous and voluntary movement of infants from the age of five months. The assessment of spontaneous and voluntary movements is part of the neurological examination of infants, but typically, they are qualitatively assessed at the physician’s or physiotherapist’s office.
However, an infant’s behavior in this setting may not entirely match that seen at home. The new analysis method quantifies infant motility as reliably as viewing a video recording, providing the infant’s actual movements with physical positions known to the second. The data gleaned by the smart onesie is valuable since the detection of abnormalities in the neurological development of infants at an early stage enables early support. In the future, the technology could also be used to study older children.
The study on the smart jumpsuit and the related analysis method applied to 7-month-old infants was published in Scientific Reports.