Camera-Based AI Game Improves Hand Dexterity in Children With Cerebral Palsy, Trial Finds

A peer-reviewed, eight-week randomized trial analyzed data from 45 children, with average adherence of 91.9% in the intervention group.

SEONGNAM, South Korea, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Children with cerebral palsy who practiced hand therapy through an AI-powered game at home for eight weeks showed significantly greater gains on tests of hand dexterity and pinch strength than children who received no intervention, according to a randomized controlled trial published in Disability and Rehabilitation. The program, GemGem400, was developed by GemGem Therapeutics and needs only the camera on a standard smartphone or tablet.

Researchers at Asan Medical Center in Seoul randomly assigned 48 children with cerebral palsy, ages 18 months to 7 years 5 months, and analyzed data from 45. Children in the intervention group trained with GemGem400 for about 15 minutes, three times a week, for eight weeks; the control group received no intervention. The Box and Block Test, the study's primary measure of manual dexterity, improved significantly more in the intervention group in both hands, as did palmar pinch strength in both hands. In the non-dominant hand, scores on the Functional Dexterity Test and tip pinch strength also improved significantly more (p < 0.05 for all).

Children in the intervention group completed their home training with an average adherence of 91.9%, a measure of how consistently they followed the program rather than of treatment success. Caregivers reported high satisfaction with the program and less psychological, time and effort burden. The authors say digital tools like GemGem400 are meant to complement, not replace, in-person occupational therapy, and can support high-repetition hand training at home.

The study was a small, single-center trial with no long-term follow-up. Because the control group received no intervention, the results compare home training with GemGem400 against no added training and do not isolate the effect of the AI technology itself. GemGem founder and CEO Jeklin Kim is a co-author of the paper, and GemGem Therapeutics provided the platform and technical support used in the study.

GemGem400 uses the device's built-in camera to recognize a child's hand and wrist movements in real time and responds with instant visual and audio feedback in the game. Target movements and difficulty can be tailored to each child, so families can continue therapy between clinic visits without gloves, sensors or other hardware.

Kim spent 12 years designing games at Nexon, including MapleStory, before founding GemGem. She is also the mother of a child with cerebral palsy; daily four-hour round trips to her child's therapy, and the uneven quality of care she encountered, led her to build a solution herself.

"Through my own child's rehabilitation journey, I experienced firsthand how difficult it is for families to access consistent, engaging, and effective therapy," said Kim, founder and CEO of GemGem Therapeutics. "We are building a future where every child can receive effective rehabilitation through play, regardless of where they live."

The concept won the 2022 Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition, run by the Asan Nanum Foundation, against a field of 89 applicants per winner. Founded in 2023, GemGem pairs game developers with a pediatric occupational therapist, and its app features licensed Pinkfong content from the company behind "Baby Shark." Kim was named a 2026 Cartier Women's Initiative fellow, representing East Asia. Separately from the Asan Medical Center study, the company is preparing a follow-up study with the University of Utah.

The study, "A novel real-time computer vision and artificial intelligence based hand function rehabilitation program for children with cerebral palsy," was published online Sept. 23, 2026 (DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2026.2735445). Eun Jae Ko of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, is the corresponding author. The research was supported by Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency.

About GemGem Therapeutics

GemGem Therapeutics develops AI-powered, game-based hand rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Its GemGem400 app uses a standard tablet or smartphone camera to track hand movements in real time, letting therapists assign exercises and children complete them through play at home or in clinics and schools. Learn more at gemgem.me/en.

SOURCE GemGem Therapeutics