Project Summary

TACT (Thought in Action) is a research project that is financed by the European Union's NEST-Adventure Program, aiming at developing non-obtrusive, user-friendly technological aids and methods allowing the extraction of more information from infant movement than is currently possible. TACT aims at analyzing different goal-directed actions that are typically performed by infants, particularly actions with communicative content (gestures, gaze), using instrumented toys that are able to record movement parameters, as the baby plays with the toys, as well as sensors that allow the assessment of grip strength, and grasping patterns. In order to tap into the emotional world of the baby, some toys are engineered to respond to manipulation with sounds and melodies whose complexity depends on the complexity of movement. TACT also aims at developing novel systems to monitor complex communicative actions such as vocalization and gaze in infants. The devices are intended to be released, after objective high-tech lab testing, to clinical centres that do not have access to high-tech motion- and gaze-tracking systems, and via clinical centres also directly to homes. The new devices and tools may allow earlier diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders.