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Imec.icon, a research program of the Belgian research and development organization imec, has published the results of the wE-MOVE project on their website. One of the aims of wE-MOVE is to encourage children and obese kids to move more.
Read the full results on the imec.icon website.
With the help of a research grant, we worked with the wE-MOVE stakeholders to prototype different “exergame” concepts to turn the tedious therapy motions into an engaging challenge. The result of this particular prototype was a virtual reality game prototype called Shapes & Rhythm combining the Oculus Rift with the Leap Motion tracker.
The children this project focused on tend to lose motivation to do the drills prescribed to them by rehabilitation and fitness coaches. By gamifying these drills in a therapeutically appropriate way, wE-MOVE solves that problem. Two games were part of this project, both of which were prototyped by us.
The first game utilizes a virtual reality headset to digitize a technique called ‘Mirror Therapy’. This exercise combats phantom pain in paralyzed limbs for people who are hemiplegic (paralyzed on one side of the body). Instead of using a mirror that tricks the brain into thinking the paralyzed limbs are moving painlessly, we use the sensors of a VR headset to let your virtual body mirror the movements of your working limbs.
The second game aims to get kids moving by letting them help a duo of super heroes chase a thief. In this chase they have to jump, climb, and make flying movements. It was called Stealth Game On the technology side, the movements are registered through a combination of a Xbox Kinect camera and high-tech inlay soles. The sensors are combined with artificial intelligence to log detailed data about the sessions.
In this concept, kids play a remote-controlled robot that needs to navigate a maze. The game works similar to running games like Temple Run, but instead of swiping on a touch screen, it’s a PC game with Microsoft Kinect where the child represents the robot in the maze, and needs to move to move the robot.
The results of the project as mentioned in the document are promising. Neurologists at Ghent University are interested in working with the technology to better understand how the brain reacts to the therapy. They also indicate that further tests are required to determine the effectiveness of the therapy.
You can read the full document on the imec website.