From ‘hands up’ to ‘hands on’: harnessing the kinaesthetic potential of educational gaming

Traditional approaches to distance learning and the student learning journey have focused on closing the gap between the experience of off-campus students and their on-campus peers. While many initiatives have sought to embed a sense of community, create virtual learning environments and even build collaborative spaces for team-based assessment and presentations, they are limited by technological innovation in terms of the types of learning styles they support and develop. Mainstream gaming development – such as with the Xbox Kinect and Nintendo Wii – have a strong element of kinaesthetic learning from early attempts to simulate impact, recoil, velocity and other environmental factors to the more sophisticated movement-based games which create a sense of almost total immersion and allow untethered (in a technical sense) interaction with the games’ objects, characters and other players. Likewise, gamification of learning has become a critical focus for the engagement of learners and its commercialisation, especially through products such as the Wii Fit. As this technology matures, there are strong opportunities for universities to utilise gaming consoles to embed levels of kinaesthetic learning into the student experience – a learning style which has been largely neglected in the distance education sector. This paper will explore the potential impact of these technologies, to broadly imagine the possibilities for future innovation in higher education

Evaluating the hip range of motion using the goniometer, the Nintendo Wiimote and video tracking methods

The range of motion (ROM) of the hip joint is an important clinical parameter used in diagnosing femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). Early detection of FAI helps people avoid the development of osteoarthritis. The goniometer is the most common method employed to measure joint angles. However, it has several limitations with respect to allowing clinicians to analyse the ROM at the gate, and tracking the hip joint during walking or in maximum squat. Motion capture devices used for analyzing the patient’s gait and assessing the condition of joints and bones are accurate but require significant logistical and financial investment. The Nintendo Wiimote, used typically in games, has found its way to medical applications such as rehabilitation interventions and shows promise. This is the first study of its kind to evaluate the goniometer, a bespoke Wiimote system as well as a marker-based motion capture (MoCap) system to measure ROM. The aim of the article is to develop and assess a reliable, validated, easy to apply but scientifically sound method to measure ROM. This study used three methods to measure ROM. Namely, a high-spec marker-based MoCap system (Vicon), a markerless MoCap system (bespoke Wiimote system) and the conventional goniometer to examine the range of motion of 20 subject volunteers. This is the first of its kind to evaluate these three methods. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the three methods is higher than 0.8 which shows that the reliability of all the methods is adequate. The validity of the marker-based MoCap system and the bespoke Wiimote is the same and furthermore, it is sufficiently robust to be used in clinical assessment. The marker-based MoCap system has slightly higher reliability and validity compared to the bespoke Wiimote system but the latter is easier to deploy, lower in cost, a more portable method and allows surgeons to have one free hand in order to avoid pelvic rotation and errors. The limitation of this study was the use of non FAI volunteers. It is concluded that the Wiimote can be used instead of the goniometer in clinical settings. The Wiimote is easy to use, portable, reliable and accurate

EVALUATING THE HIP RANGE OF MOTION USING THE GONIOMETER, THE NINTENDO WIIMOTE AND VIDEO TRACKING METHODS

The range of motion (ROM) of the hip joint is an important clinical parameter used in diagnosing femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). Early detection of FAI helps people avoid the development of osteoarthritis. The goniometer is the most common method employed to measure joint angles. However, it has several limitations with respect to allowing clinicians to analyse the ROM at the gate, and tracking the hip joint during walking or in maximum squat. Motion capture devices used for analyzing the patient’s gait and assessing the condition of joints and bones are accurate but require significant logistical and financial investment. The Nintendo Wiimote, used typically in games, has found its way to medical applications such as rehabilitation interventions and shows promise. This is the first study of its kind to evaluate the goniometer, a bespoke Wiimote system as well as a marker-based motion capture (MoCap) system to measure ROM. The aim of the article is to develop and assess a reliable, validated, easy to apply but scientifically sound method to measure ROM. This study used three methods to measure ROM. Namely, a high-spec marker-based MoCap system (Vicon), a markerless MoCap system (bespoke Wiimote system) and the conventional goniometer to examine the range of motion of 20 subject volunteers. This is the first of its kind to evaluate these three methods. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the three methods is higher than 0.8 which shows that the reliability of all the methods is adequate. The validity of the marker-based MoCap system and the bespoke Wiimote is the same and furthermore, it is sufficiently robust to be used in clinical assessment. The marker-based MoCap system has slightly higher reliability and validity compared to the bespoke Wiimote system but the latter is easier to deploy, lower in cost, a more portable method and allows surgeons to have one free hand in order to avoid pelvic rotation and errors. The limitation of this study was the use of non FAI volunteers. It is concluded that the Wiimote can be used instead of the goniometer in clinical settings. The Wiimote is easy to use, portable, reliable and accurate

Interfaces baseadas em gestos e movimento

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaEsta tese estuda novas formas de interacção pessoa-máquina, baseadas em sensores de infravermelhos. O objectivo foi criar uma interface que tornasse a interacção com o computador mais natural e divertida, utilizando gestos e movimentos que são usados intuitivamente no dia-a-dia. Foi necessário o desenho e implementação de um sistema flexível e modular, que permite detectar as posições e movimentos das mãos e cabeça do utilizador. Adicionalmente, esta interface tambem permite a utilização de botões e fornece feedback háptico ao utilizador. Foram encontrados vários problemas durante a realização do hardware, que levaram à utilização de novas abordagens e à construcção e teste de vários protótipos Paralelamente à construção dos protótipos do hardware, foi implementada uma biblioteca que permite detectar a posição das mãos e cabeça cabeça do utilizador, num espaço tridimensional. Esta biblioteca trata de toda a comunicação com o hardware, fornecendo funções e callbacks simples ao programador das aplicações. Foram desenvolvidas quatro aplicações que permitiram testar e demonstrar as várias funcionalidades desta interface em diferentes cenários. Uma destas aplicações foi um jogo, que foi demonstrado publicamente durante o dia aberto da FCT/UNL, tendo sido experimentado e avaliado por um grande número de utilizadores

The use of the Nintendo Wii in motor rehabilitation for virtual reality interventions:a literature review

Several review articles have been published on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in motor rehabilitation. The majority of these focus on the effectiveness of VR on improving motor function using relatively expensive commercial tools and technologies including robotics, cybergloves, cybergrasps, joysticks, force sensors and motion capture systems. However, we present the case in this chapter that game sensors and VR technologies which can be customized and reconfigured, such as the Nintendo Wii, provide an alternative and affordable VR intervention for rehabilitation. While the performance of many of the Wii based interventions in motor rehabilitation are currently the focus of investigation by researchers, an extensive and holistic discussion on this subject does not yet exist. As such, the purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with an understanding of the advantages and limitations of the Nintendo Wii game sensor device (and its associated accessories) for motor rehabilitation and in addition, to outline the potential for incorporating these into clinical interventions for the benefit of patients and therapists

Automation of CAD model based assembly simulations using motion capture

The manufacturing industry often uses text and video as a supplement for worker training procedures. Unfortunately, text is often difficult to follow and video lends itself to occlusion issues. CAD based animations of assembly operations can overcome these shortcomings while offering greater potential for operations analysis and simulation flexibility. However, creating such CAD based training simulations manually is a time intensive task and many a times fail to reveal the practical assembly issues faced in the real world. Thus, it is highly beneficial to be able to automate these simulations using motion capture from a physical environment. This thesis research summary includes the development and demonstration of a low-cost versatile motion tracking system and its application for generating CAD based assembly simulations. The motion tracking system is practically attractive because it is inexpensive, wireless, and easily portable. The system development focus herein is on two important aspects. One is generation of model based simulation, and the other is motion capture. Multiple Wii Remotes (Wiimotes) are used to form vision systems to perform 3D motion tracking. All the 6 DOF of a part can be tracked with the help of four Infra-red (IR) LEDs mounted on the part to be tracked. The obtained data is fed in realtime to automatically generate an assembly simulation of object models represented by Siemens NX5 CAD software. A Wiimote Vision System Setup Toolkit has been developed to help users in setting up a new vision system using Wiimotes given the required volume and floor area to be tracked. Implementation examples have been developed with different physical assemblies to demonstrate the capabilities of the system --Abstract, page iii