CEREPLAY

A crawling assistive device for children with cerebral palsy that helps them progress from the creeping stage to the crawling stage. Turning early movement into a foundation for growth.

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Location
Prabhat foundation, Paldi, GJ

San Francisco, USA

Project
Design for Special Needs

UI/UX Design, Web Development

Impact
Helping kids with CP

2025

Overview

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological condition that can present as issues with muscle tone, posture and/or a movement disorder. It’s the result of damage to your brain during fetal development or another developmental disability that affects the way your brain develops. The signs and symptoms of CP appear early in childhood and can vary widely from person to person.

2-3 CHILDREN

with cerebral palsy per 1,000 live births

50,000 – 75,000

new cases per year

“CP is not a single uniform condition; its severity varies widely. Some children have mild coordination difficulties, while others experience severe movement limitations and multiple disabilities.”

with cerebral palsy per 1,000 live births

CP includes spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, and mixed types.

Types of CP

From early brain damage during or after pregnancy.

Causes

Children show movement, posture, and muscle control difficulties.

Symptoms

Treatment focuses on therapy, support, and symptom management.

Diagnosis

Approach & Design Brief

The design approach began with studying physiotherapy exercises and observing children. This was followed by posture analysis and collecting anthropometric data to understand user needs. Insights from this research guided ideation, which was explored through iterative prototyping and testing. Each iteration helped refine what worked best, leading to the final design solution.

Design Brief:
Design a child-friendly therapeutic device for children with cerebral palsy (ages 3–7) that supports the transition from creeping to a proper crawling posture.

Prototype & Process

Used a standard fabric combined with polystyrene pieces that acted as the structural framework or "skeleton" of the product. A single metal industrial magnet was integrated at the bottom, allowing it to securely attach to the magnet on the dustbin. The design allowed for smooth folding and unfolding, making access and re-locking the dustbin both simple and efficient. This actually made it a simple product design.

PROTO FIT TEST

Early prototypes used an inclined upper torso support with a U-shaped knee base. Testing revealed back lift due to forward weight, leading to the addition of a front protrusion in later iterations to improve balance.

Testing out the Prototypes

Testing revealed key improvements such as wheel caps for finger safety, added counterbalance for stability, a front rotating wheel for easy turning, optimised wheel size for movement efficiency, and adjustable torso height to fit different children.

Final design & Renders

IDEATION SKETCHES

CEREPLAY

Turning play into progress.

CEREPLAY

Turning play into progress.

CEREPLAY

Turning play into progress.

Engineered with a polystyrene body support, integrated strap, plywood frame, cushioned padding, wheel housing, and a reinforced MS pipe structure for stability and comfort.

Engineered with a polystyrene body support, integrated strap, plywood frame, cushioned padding, wheel housing, and a reinforced MS pipe structure for stability and comfort.