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Digital Outcome Assessment Using AI Active Gaming and Motion Capture in Friedreich Ataxia

Fusion of Therapeutic AI Active Gaming With Motion Capture to Create a Novel Digital Clinical Outcome Assessment (dCOA) in Friedreich Ataxia

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 28 Jul 2026

Brief summary (registry, in English)

Friedreich ataxia (FA) is a rare, inherited condition that progressively affects balance, coordination, and walking. Clinical trials of new FA treatments rely largely on standard clinical rating scales, but these can be tiring for patients, feel disconnected from everyday life, and may not detect small but meaningful changes over time. More objective, sensitive, and patient-relevant ways of measuring movement are needed. This study is developing and testing a new digital way of measuring movement in FA. Participants play short, movement-based computer games on a laptop while a single camera and artificial-intelligence (AI) software track how they move. The proposition is that the way a person plays these games - their speed, accuracy, and movement quality - can provide objective, meaningful measurements of motor function. In the laboratory, these game-based measurements are compared against a "gold-standard" full-body motion-capture system and against established clinical scales to check how accurate and meaningful they are. The study involves both people with Friedreich ataxia (across a range of disease severity) and healthy volunteers. People with FA also take part in a 12-week home phase, playing the games at home each month with remote support, so the researchers can examine whether the digital measurements are reliable when repeated and whether they can detect change over time. The study asks whether these digital, game-based movement measurements are reliable, valid, and sensitive enough to be used as a "fit-for-purpose" digital clinical outcome assessment (dCOA) in future FA clinical trials, and whether patients find the platform acceptable, usable, and relevant to daily life. This is an early-stage feasibility and validation study designed to establish proof of concept rather than to test the effectiveness of a treatment.

Status (registry)
Not yet recruiting
Study type
Observational
Enrollment
40 (estimated)
First submitted
17 Jul 2026
Start date
30 Jul 2026
Primary completion date
31 Dec 2026
Lead sponsor
University of Exeter
NCT number
NCT07731971

What you commit to

  • Study type: Observational
  • Planned participants: 40
  • From 30 Jul 2026 to the primary completion date, 31 Dec 2026
  • 1 site in 1 country
  • Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.

Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Other illness

  • Severe cognitive impairment precluding task comprehension
  • Active seizure disorder, or vestibular dysfunction causing nausea with non-immersive VR

Age

  • Aged 11 years or younger, or 51 years or older
  • Aged 11 years or younger, or 51 years or older

Other

  • Friedreich ataxia group:
  • Currently participating in an interventional clinical trial
  • No reliable internet connection (where a digital inclusion pack cannot resolve this)
  • Any reason precluding safe participation in moderate-intensity exercise.
    • Healthy control group:
  • Genetically confirmed Friedreich ataxia
  • Any reason precluding safe participation in moderate-intensity exercise.

Criteria the registry did not label

  • Friedreich ataxia group:
  • Aged 12 to 50 years
  • Genetically confirmed Friedreich ataxia
  • Able to sit or stand independently for 5 minutes
  • Able to provide informed consent (or assent with parental consent if under 16 years)
  • Stable medication regimen (no changes in the past 4 weeks)
    • Healthy control group:
  • Aged 12 to 50 years
  • No history of genetically confirmed Friedreich ataxia
  • Able to sit or stand independently for 5 minutes
  • Able to provide informed consent (or assent with parental consent if under 16 years)

Age in the registry: 12 years to 50 years · Sex: All · Accepts healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (1)

Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.

SiteCityCountrySite status
University Of Exeter
Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status
ExeterUnited KingdomUnknown status

This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.