Peer Reviewed Journal via three different mandatory reviewing processes, since 2006, and, from September 2020, a fourth mandatory peer-editing has been added.
Our paper describes the development of a novel multi-user
virtual reality (VR) system for post-stroke rehabilitation that
can be used independently in the home to improve upper
extremity motor function. This is the pre-clinical phase of an
ongoing collaborative, interdisciplinary research project at the
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago involving a team of
engineers, researchers, occupational therapists and artists. This
system was designed for creative collaboration within a virtual
environment to increase patients’ motivation, further
engagement and to alleviate the impact of social isolation
following stroke. This is a low-cost system adapted to everyday
environments and designed to run on a personal computer that
combines three VR environments with audio integration,
wireless Kinect tracking and hand motion tracking sensors.
Three different game exercises for this system were developed
to encourage repetitive task practice, collaboration and
competitive interaction. The system is currently being tested
with 15 subjects in three settings: a multi-user VR, a single-user
VR and at a tabletop with standard exercises to examine the
level of engagement and to compare resulting functional
performance across methods. We hypothesize that stroke
survivors will become more engaged in therapy when training
with a multi-user VR system and this will translate into greater
gains.
