2669992
doi
10.2312/egve.20181327
oai:zenodo.org:2669992
user-rise-teaming-cyprus
user-eu
Despina Michael-Grigoriou
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus and Research Centre on Interactive Media Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies, Cyprus
Dimitris Sokratous
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
Marianna Tsiakoulia
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
BuzzwireVR: An Immersive Game to Supplement Fine-Motor Movement Therapy
Chris G. Christou
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
Virtual reality
Perception
<p>Recovery of upper-body fine-motor skills after brain trauma, e.g. after a stroke, involves a long process of movement rehabilitation. When the arms and hands are affected patients often spend many hours exercising in order to regain control of their movements, often using children’s toys. This paper describes the process of development of a Virtual Reality (VR) system designed to supplement rehabilitation by encouraging hand movements while playing a fun game. The system is based on the well-known Buzzwire children’s toy that requires steady hand-eye coordination to pass a ring along a wire without touching the wire. The toy has in the past been used in a variety of research studies, but we considered it ideal for motor rehabilitation because it requires steady hand and finger movements. In our virtualised version of the toy the wire consists of a parametric spline curve with cylindrical cross-section positioned in front of the player. Cylinders at the ends of the ’wire’ change colour to indicate which hand to use. The parametric nature of the wire allows us to record performance variables which are not readily available in the physical version. We report on two initial experiments which tested and evaluated various aspects of performance on able-bodied participants and stroke patients, followed by a description of how we developed the toy into a multi-level game that encourages increasingly intricate hand movements. In the first evaluation we tested if performance variables (such as average speed, and distance from the wire) could distinguish between dominant and non-dominant hands of able-bodied participants. We also compared performance with and without binocular viewing. Results showed that our metrics could distinguish between the players dominant versus non-dominant hand. We also noted a dramatic disruption of performance when binocular stereopsis was not available. The second experiment was a usability study involving a sample of stroke-affected participants with post-stroke hemiparesis. Results showed positive acceptance of the technology with no fatigue or nausea. Our gamified version of the task utilizes learnings from the previous studies to create an enjoyable multi-level game involving auditory guidance as feedback. Results are discussed in terms of potential benefits of using such technology in addition to conventional therapy.</p>
<p> </p>
This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 739578 and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development.
DOI 10.2312/egve.20181327, BuzzwireVR: An Immersive Game to Supplement Fine-Motor Movement Therapy, C. G. Christou, D. Michael-Grigoriou, D. Sokratous and M. Tsiakoulia, ICAT-EGVE 2018 - International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments, Bruder, Gerd and Yoshimoto, Shunsuke and Cobb, Sue, 2018, pages 149-156, Copyright ©2018 The Eurographics Association, The Eurographics Association.
The Eurographics Association
2018-12-31
info:eu-repo/semantics/conferencePaper
2669991
user-rise-teaming-cyprus
user-eu
Accepted pre-print
award_title=Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart System and Emerging Technologies; award_number=739578; award_identifiers_scheme=url; award_identifiers_identifier=https://cordis.europa.eu/projects/739578; funder_id=00k4n6c32; funder_name=European Commission;
1596113483.86918
479517
md5:56799e5d3083b430efce6a9a99f475b3
https://zenodo.org/records/2669992/files/2018_ICATEGVE_BuzzwireFineMotorMovementTherapy_AsSubmitted.pdf
public
ICAT-EGVE 2018 - International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments
978-3-03868-058-1
149-156
Postfach 2926, 38629 Goslar, Germany
2018-12-31