Human computer interactive system for fast recovery based stroke rehabilitation

In Australia, about 88% of stroke survivors live at home with disabilities affecting their daily life activities and quality of their lives. Therefore, there is a need to improve their lost functions and promote their lives via rehabilitation process. One way to improve the stroke rehabilitation process is through human interactive system, which can be achieved by augmented reality technology. This development draws from the work currently being pursued in the gaming industry to make the augmented reality technology more accessible to the medical industry for the improvement of stroke rehabilitation. In this paper, two augmented reality games: Pong Game and Goal Keeper Game were developed. These games have been designed for rehabilitation with consideration to human interactive systems and have features such as on-screen feedbacks and high immersive value to keep stroke victims motivated in the rehabilitation process. The developed games were aimed to replace boring and repetitive traditional rehabilitation exercises. This paper details the success of implementing augmented reality into the rehabilitation process, which will in turn contribute to society by minimizing the number of people living at home with stroke related disabilities and the requirement for direct supervision from therapist. © 2011 IEEE