AR Rehabilitation System with Haptic Feedback and Position Sensing
Solution Overview
Problem
Rehabilitation centers face a shortage of therapists, leading to long waiting times and excessive physical and mental burdens on therapists, as well as insufficient individual attention for patients, necessitating an innovative solution for efficient rehabilitation support.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality interactive rehabilitation system comprising a wearing unit with AR eyewear and a haptic tool unit, including a holding seat, haptic modules, and sensing modules, which provides immersive and interactive rehabilitation exercises, such as cup-stacking, to engage patients and improve hand mobility through AR simulations and feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If more therapists are hired to provide one-on-one rehabilitation services, then patient care quality improves, but operational cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of therapists through AR technology. The AR therapist interface replicates therapeutic functions, allowing multiple patients to receive personalized rehabilitation guidance simultaneously without requiring additional physical therapists. This copying approach maintains care quality while eliminating the need to hire more staff.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables patients to perform rehabilitation exercises independently with AR guidance. The AR therapist provides real-time feedback and correction, allowing patients to self-monitor and self-correct their movements. This self-service capability reduces dependency on physical therapists while maintaining rehabilitation effectiveness.
2Loss of time
If more therapists are assigned to patients, then waiting time decreases, but therapist workload and operational cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The AR therapist system serves multiple patients simultaneously across different locations. A single AR therapist interface can guide multiple patients through rehabilitation exercises at the same time, eliminating the need for therapists to travel between patients and reducing waiting time without increasing physical therapist workload.
Solution Approach 2:
Virtual AR therapist copies can be deployed to multiple patients simultaneously, allowing instant access to rehabilitation services without scheduling delays. Patients receive immediate attention from their assigned AR therapist copy, eliminating queue waiting time while the physical therapist manages multiple copies efficiently.
3Reliability
If one-on-one therapist services are provided, then rehabilitation effectiveness improves, but physical and mental burden on therapists increases
Solution Approach 1:
Patients perform rehabilitation exercises independently with AR guidance and automated feedback. The system automatically monitors patient movements, provides real-time correction, and tracks progress without requiring constant physical therapist intervention. This maintains personalized rehabilitation effectiveness while eliminating the physical and emotional exhaustion associated with continuous one-on-one therapy.
Solution Approach 2:
The AR therapist creates virtual copies that can attend to multiple patients simultaneously, distributing the therapeutic workload across multiple digital instances rather than overloading a single physical therapist. Each AR copy provides personalized attention, but the system as a whole handles many patients without increasing individual therapist burden.
Data Source
AI summary
An augmented reality interactive rehabilitation system includes an augmented reality eyewear device, a holding seat, a haptic module and sensing modules. The holding seat has a first recess and a second recess smaller in cross section than the first recess. The haptic module is removably placeable into the holding seat, and has a first end to be received in the first recess and a second end to be received in the second recess. The sensing modules are informationally connected to the augmented reality eyewear device and disposed in the holding seat to detect whether the haptic module is placed in a correct position.