The Digital Box and Block Test Automating traditional post-stroke rehabilitation assessment

The Box and Block Test (BBT) is a post-stroke assessment that measures unilateral gross manual dexterity. Commonly used by doctors, nurses and rehabilitation therapists to evaluate rehabilitation progress, the test administration however is time consuming and labor intensive. Appointments need to be scheduled for patients to visit hospital clinics or the therapists to perform at-home visits. We present the Digital Box and Block Test (DBBT) that enables deployment in residential spaces. The system automatically recognizes the two sides of the box, blocks inside of the boxes, and then scores the results that can be sent to the doctors' office remotely. The system also provides additional information such as the hand movement, speeds and locations for the clinicians to perform further outcome assessments of the patients. In this paper, we discuss the role of the technology, how it improves the current practice, and describe the system implementation and future directions.