Shawn N. Gieser

Self-managed patient-game interaction using the barrett WAM arm for motion analysis

In this paper, we present a framework for physical rehabilitation, that uses a combination of video gaming and robotic technology to allow the monitoring and progress tracking of a person during physical therapy. The system, called MAGNI, uses the advanced control capabilities of the Barrett WAM Arm robot and a custom-made video game. The MAGNI system helps the patient to complete a rehabilitation session through a user-system, game-based interaction program, involving exercises prescribed by a therapist. The system can control and supervise the rehabilitation sessions to ensure compliance and safe exercising. It uses motion analysis to provide an evaluation of the patients progress over time. The MAGNI system records the position of the subjects hand during game interaction with the robotic arm and analyzes this data using pattern matching and machine learning algorithms, in order to guide self-managed physical therapy. Our experiments show that we can accurately classify user motion activity between a set of different exercises, and measure user compliance with the prescribed regimens.

Real-Time Static Gesture Recognition for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Using the Leap Motion

Cerebral Palsy is a motor disability that occurs in early childhood. Conventional therapy methods have proven useful for upper extremity rehabilitation, but can lead to non-compliance due to children getting bored with the repetition of exercises. Virtual reality and game-like simulations of conventional methods have proven to lead to higher rates of compliance, the patient being more engaged during exercising, and yield better performance during exercises. Most games are good at keeping players engaged, but does not focus on exercising fine motor control functions. In this paper, we present an analysis of classification techniques for static hand gestures. We also present a prototype of a game-like simulation of matching static hand gestures in order to increase motor control of the hand.

Quantitative evaluation of the kinect skeleton tracker for physical rehabilitation exercises

Using video game technology in physical rehabilitation has shown many positive results in the past few years. The release of the Microsoft Kinect has presented many new opportunities for development in physical rehabilitation technologies. However, there have been questions about the Kinects accuracy in actual experimentation. In this paper, we compare skeleton data obtained by a Kinect to that obtained by a VICON system in order to determine the accuracy of the Kinect while a tracked subject is moving their arm around. This is the first steps towards a much larger physical rehabilitation system.

MAGNI: A Real-Time Robot-Aided Game-Based Tele-Rehabilitation System

During the last two decades, robotic rehabilitation has become widespread, particularly for upper limb physical rehabilitation. Major findings prove that the efficacy of robot-assisted rehabilitation can be increased by motivation and engagement, which is offered by exploiting the opportunities of gamification and exergaming. This paper presents a tele-rehabilitation framework to enable interaction between therapists and patients and is a combination of a graphical user interface and a high dexterous robotic arm. The system, called MAGNI, integrates a 3D exercise game with a robotic arm, operated by therapist in order to assign in real-time the prerecorded exercises to the patients. We propose a game that can be played by a patient who has suffered an injury to their arm (e.g. Stroke, Spinal Injury, or some physical injury to the shoulder itself). The experimental results and the feedback from the participants show that the system has the potential to impact how robotic physical therapy addresses specific patient’s needs and how occupational therapists assess patient’s progress over time.

Using CAVE in physical rehabilitation exercises for rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic disease that leads to swelling and inflammation of the joints and even spread to surrounding tissues and blood vessels. Physical therapy has been used successfully to slow the effects of this degenerative disease. Patients, however, do not want to do these exercises due to the fact they are boring and repetitive. In this paper, we introduce the first steps in creating a virtual environment using a CAVE System for the physical therapy sessions where the user will be engaged and motived to complete the exercises prescribed by his or her doctor.

Comparing Objective and Subjective Metrics Between Physical and Virtual Tasks

Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming a tool that is more often used in various types of activities, including rehabilitation. However, studies using VR rehabilitation mainly focus on comparing the performances of participants, but not their opinions. In this paper, we present a virtual version of the Box and Blocks Test. We also present the results of a pilot study where participants completed a physical version of the Box and Blocks Test and the virtual version, comparing their scores and opinions. We also compare how the participants viewed the passage of time while performing both versions as a way to see how engaged they were during the task.

A Survey of Sensing Modalities for Human Activity, Behavior, and Physiological Monitoring

In this paper, we present a survey of emerging technologies for non-invasive human activity, behavior, and physiological sensing. The survey focuses on technologies that are close to entering the commercial market, or have only recently become available. We intend for this survey to give researchers in any field relevant to human data collection an overview of currently accessible devices and sensing modalities, their capabilities, and how the technologies will mature with time.

Using Humanoid Robot to Instruct and Evaluate Performance of a Physical Task.

In this paper, we present a tool to assess users ability to change tasks. To do this, we use a variation of the Box and Blocks Test. In this version, a humanoid robot instructs a user to perform a task involving the movement of certain colored blocks. The robot changes randomly change the color of blocks that the user is supposed to move. Canny Edge Detection and Hough Transformation are used to assess user perform the robots built-in camera. This will allow the robot to inform the user and keep a log of their progress. We present this method for monitoring user progress by describing how the moved blocks are detected. We also present the results of a pilot study where users used this system to perform the task. Preliminary results show that users do not perform differently when the task is changed in this scenario.

Evaluation of a Low Cost EMG Sensor as a Modality for Use in Virtual Reality Applications

Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming more accessible to everyday users. Users of VR want realistic experiences, both in how it looks and in how to interact with the environment. Electromyography (EMG) is a possible tool to use to make VR more realistic, but in the past, has been considered too expensive to be accessible to the everyday user. New low-cost EMG sensors have become available in recent years that have made this technology more available to the everyday user. In this paper, we evaluate one low-cost EMG sensor to assess its usefulness as an input modality for VR. We will do this by assessing how accurately gesture recognition can be accomplished with the data acquired from the sensor. We will compare it to gesture classification done with data obtained from a higher cost EMG system that has a much higher sampling rate. If the classification results are similar, then low-cost EMG is a valid choice as an input modality for VR.

Pot hunter: a virtual reality game for analyzing range of motion

Patients undergoing physical therapy go through a series of sessions performing exercises to help improve the range of motion (RoM) in affected regions of the body due to disease or injury. However, patients find these tasks repetitive and boring and end up not completing the prescribed therapy program. It has been shown that game based therapy exercises have led to increased rates of compliance. In this paper, we provide a continuation of previous work in VR-based therapy and present Pot Hunter, and one type of RoM analysis for when a person reaches above their head.