Innovative infant wearable uses artificial intelligence for at-home assessments of early motor development

Monitoring early neurological development is a central part of paediatric healthcare everywhere in the world. During the first two years of life, the motor development of children is monitored closely, as motion is the natural base for their other development and interaction with the environment. Current methods, such as parents’ subjective assessment and observations made at medical appointments, do not allow accurate developmental monitoring throughout early childhood.

MAIJU (Motor Assessment of Infants with a Jumpsuit) is designed to solve these problems. The suit is based on multisensor measurement, which are used to make reliable and versatile measurements of children’s motion with the help of dedicated AI algorithms. The suit is worn at home, where the child’s activity is measured during free play. The AI algorithms assess whether the child has reached specific motor milestones, how much time the child spends in different postures and steadily the child develops from month to month.

Reliable, objective and internationally comparable developmental assessment

A recent study demonstrates that the AI algorithms of the MAIJU jumpsuit identify motor milestones with the same precision as trained specialists employed in a multinational reference study by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“This technique brings objectivity and global harmonisation to the assessment of motor development. It also boosts regional equality in children’s developmental assessment both nationally and internationally,” says Professor Sampsa Vanhatalo, the principal investigator.

A total of 620 at-home measurements were carried out on 134 children aged from 4 to 22 months. The findings show that the MAIJU jumpsuit enables very reliable and objective developmental assessment at the child’s home. At-home measurements and the AI algorithms provide detailed results that can be used, for example, to screen developmental delays, assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation and conduct extensive multinational studies.

“The MAIJU jumpsuit opens up new opportunities for monitoring children’s development, making it equal across Finland and the world. The MAIJU method also offers a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of the growth environment or nutrition on development,” says Postdoctoral Researcher Manu Airaksinen, who was in charge of the jumpsuit’s technical development.

A  video abstract of the research