Multi-user smartglove for virtual environment-based rehabilitation

Abstract

A low-cost, virtual environment, rehabilitation system and a glove input device for patients suffering from stroke or other neurological impairments for independent, in-home use, to improve upper extremity motor function, including hand and finger control. The system includes a low-cost input device for tracking arm, hand, and finger movement; an open source gaming engine; and a processing device. The system is controllable to provide four types of multiple patient / user interactions: competition, cooperation, counter-operative, and mixed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]Priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61 / 145,825 entitled “Multiple User Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation (MUVER)”, which was filed on. Jan. 20, 2009, and U.S. provisional patent application No. 61 / 266,543 entitled “Low Cost Smart Glove for Virtual Reality Based Rehabilitation”, which was filed on Dec. 4, 2009 is claimed.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]N / ABACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]1. Field of the Invention[0004]A device and system for rehabilitating hand and finger movements of stroke patients with neurological or orthopedic problems is disclosed, and, more specifically, a device and system that are structured and arranged to capture hand and wrist motion for the purpose of guiding a patient / user through rehabilitation exercises.[0005]2. Summary of the Related Art[0006]Every year, between 700,000 and 800,000 Americans suffer a new or a recurring stroke in which a sudden varia...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0040]To meet the apparent need, a Multiple-User Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation (MOVER) is disclosed. The MUVER is structured and arranged to enable multiple patients and system users at remote locations to interact with each other in virtual space with activities designed to enhance UE and skilled-hand function. The intended application is for use as a supplemental, in-home rehabilitation tool for people with hand function and coordination disabilities, specifically the type of disability that would result from a stroke. Advantageously, MUVER will be the first inexpensive, VE-based system that patients could purchase, e.g., for home use, that is specifically designed to enhance finger and thumb movement in addition to arm movement.

[0042]The system includes a virtual reality game-type interface that will have “scenes” developed specifically for patients with stroke who need to practice finger, hand, and arm movements. The activities will be functional movements that involve the whole arm as well as hand, but with specific emphasis on hand and finger motions. Feedback features and training routines, based on principles of motor learning, facilitate motor recovery in patients at different levels of motor ability.

[0045]Another unique feature will be feedback lights placed on the back of the hand which will allow the patient to know if they are performing the correct motion while looking at their hand, as opposed to the screen. This will allow patients with impaired perceptual abilities to concentrate on the task while not having to interact as much with a computer interface.

Problems solved by technology

These effects may include an inability to return to work, which can lead to a loss of income and benefits such as health care, and / or the need for daily living assistance.

Thus, stroke remains the leading cause of disability among adults in the United States.

Rising health care costs, however, are causing stroke patients to be discharge from hospital sooner and causing the length of physical therapy sessions to be shorter.

Such a program saves time in transportation and cost for clinical fees.

A key component of poor or incomplete functional recovery remains the impaired use of the stroke patient's hand and fingers.

However, hand rehabilitation devices by others tend to be complex, expensive, and / or not readily available to clinicians.

Some of these products, such as the Cyberglove, are very precise, but too costly for in-home purposes ($10,000 per Cyberglove).

Others are more affordable, e.g., the P5 Glove™ (approximately $100 per glove), but, without modification, do not deliver data accurately enough for the intended application.

Hence there is tension and a necessary trade-off between cost and performance.

Although this arrangement makes it easy to use at home, because of the infrared control receptor, the work space is limited, which is to say that the range within which motion can be detected is limited to only about three or four feet between the glove and the receptor.

Although infrared positioning is accurate and relatively inexpensive it is not the most useful or most accurate method of determining the position of a P5 Glove™.

Indeed, because IR light detection is predicated on beams of light traveling between an emitter and a sensor, obstructions to the beam path limit this capability.

Consequently, because a patient / user's hands move in many directions and at many angles there is no guarantee that emitted IR beams will reach the sensor without being obstructed or reflected.

Although a large library of publicly-available Wii™ games exists, presently, there is no licensed software development kit available to the public.

The device 26 is adapted to sense multiple bends, e.g., finger flexion, but is unable to measure the attitude or orientation of the hand in space or with respect to the patient / user's body.

None of these devices, however, meets the need for a low-cost, simple, UE motor training device that patients could use easily in their homes, and, potentially, use with other patients over a network, the Internet, and the like.

Those that do exist are prohibitively expensive, and most are not commercially available.

Moreover, none is suitable for independent home use by patients and, furthermore, none provides for multiple patient / user interaction over the Internet.

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