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Virtual Environments Technologies in Rehabilitation: A New Approach to Motor Dexterity Disabilities

Ziel

Utilisation of Virtual Environments technologies, including head-mounted displays, force feedback systems and high rendering computer graphics, to address the care of motor dexterity disabilities of the upper limb and of the hand.

The VETIR project addresses a new approach, based on the exploitation of VE technologies, to the assessment of motor dexterity disabilities as well as to the restoration and enhancement of motor dexterity functions for people with disabilities.

The objective of the project is to evaluate and confirm the possibilities that VE technologies can be applied to the field of Rehabilitation and, in particular, to the care of motor dexterity disabilities for patients with brain vascular lesions and consequent motor dysfunctions.

VE technologies consist of interface systems allowing the user (the patient) to interact with a virtual environment or scenario simulated into a computer (usually a graphical workstation). The interface systems comprehend all the components capable of representing the virtual scenario as well as all those systems devoted to record the user's movements. The systems also replicate sensory stimuli such that the user is provided with a realistic sense of presence in the simulated environment. The user, wearing the different interface systems, is able to perform movements of his/her limbs (hands, arms) and head and see them reproduced in the simulated environment. At the same time, due to the action of the afferent? different interface systems, he/she can grasp and move objects by receiving adequate sensory feedback stimuli in terms of visual representation, sounds and contact forces.

The basic idea of the VETIR project is that of generating a simulated rehabilitation environment with which the patient can directly interact with the same means and procedures he/she performs in a real rehabilitative gymnasium. The unique features of VE systems - particularly in terms of sensory feedback modalities for the user and behavioural components of the simulated entities - are purposely exploited in order to optimise the rehabilitation procedure both in terms of time related to the completion of the whole therapeutic approach and also in terms of enrichment of rehabilitation methods which are intrinsically not feasible in a real environment.

The chosen approach will be limited to the diagnosis and treatment of disabled people with motor dexterity disability of the upper limb and of the hand. Recovering human hand motor capabilities represents one of the most interesting aims in Rehabilitation, due to the positive implications on social, psychological and operative recovery of the patient. The fundamental point of the rehabilitative approach of the VETIR project is that the user is directly involved in the control of the operations to be performed in the virtual environment. The whole therapeutic process will be extended to the three main aspects of the rehabilitation procedure: a) assessment, b) restoration and c) enhancement of the specific patient's motor dexterity function.

Technical Approach: The utilisation of Virtual Environments (VE) techniques for the assessment and restoration of motor dexterity disabilities (one of the most critical branch of Rehabilitation) is innovative per se. The development of the appropriate VE system will be protocol and user driven. VETIR as a first step will design and plan the rehabilitation protocols to be carried out in the virtual environments together with the analysis and definition of the hardware and software requirements. Based on these specifications, the design and realisation of a prototypical VE system will be performed. In particular the design of the required user-computer interface systems and of the software for the modelling and graphical representation of the VE will be addressed. Iterative user trials and hardware-software components refinement will then be done. Each step of the activity will be verified by experts in the field of rehabilitation in order to assess the match between the adopted technical solutions and the user's requirements and safety.

Impact and Expected Results: Mid-term results can be obtained in terms of specific interface and feedback systems for the user : their commercialisation will be planned before the end of the project. Results of the VETIR project can be described as a) advanced interface systems and associated control methodologies, and b) software packages for graphical representations and modelling of the VE entities. Results of clinical tests based on the designed rehabilitation protocols performed by a specific group of disabled users will be provided.

The impact of the expected results of the project in the field of rehabilitation can be remarkable. Today's methods for functional recovery are mainly characterised by the usage of therapeutic exercises which are suggested by physicians and are under their clinical control with little help from technology. VE technologies, on the contrary, introduce a more rigorous clinical documentation methodology offering a very interesting tool to accelerate the recovery process. Recent world-wide interest shown in VE technologies witnesses their promising development possibilities in Rehabilitation.

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Finanzierungsplan

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Koordinator

Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna
EU-Beitrag
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Adresse
Via Carducci 40
56127 Pisa
Italien

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Letzte Aktualisierung: 31 August 1995

Mein Booklet

Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1216/de

European Union, 2024