Game-Based Rehabilitation

Motivating game-based rehabilitation training has the potential to improve therapy for people with neurological impairments. In recent years, video games have become extremely useful tools in the rehabilitation field.

game-based rehabilitation aims to stimulate the mobility of the body through an immersive experience that puts the user in an interactive virtual environment. This will be done through integrating an interactive game interface with a robotic glove device.  During the game, the interactive user interface provides useful real-time feedback information such as the time required to grasp a desired dynamic virtual object, and the assigned score and thus the ability of the proposed system to provide a compensatory action regarding the dynamic behavior of the virtual target.

The main goal of the developed virtual environment is to create positive influences on the rehabilitation process. Patient movement information and signals obtained from the robotic glove device are used together to monitor the rehabilitation progress. The developed robotic glove is a low cost device suitable for grasping tasks that can be used even for domestic stroke patients. The robotic rehabilitation glove is not only a mechanical system able to perform the rehabilitation act but also it presents an effective tracking and traceability software solution.

For example the Robotic Rehabilitation Gloves: SIFREHAB-1.2 can detect the intention of hand opening or closing which in turn will actuate the mechanical structure to accomplish the desired task. Parameters and results of patients’ exercises are stored and analyzed when needed to evaluate patients’ progress. The developed system is tested experimentally and it is able to restore the functions of the upper limb and mainly give patients more motivation to undergo the rehabilitation exercises.