Natural User Interfaces (NUI): review

The article summarizes and systematizes knowledge concerning natural user interfaces. The most important facts related to this problem have been supplemented with examples of possible practical use of such type of human-computer communication. Moreover, the article contains descriptions of three most popular controllers: Microsoft Kinect, Nintendo Wii and Sony Move

Development and implementation of technologies for physical telerehabilitation in Latin America:

La telerehabilitation ha surgido debido a la inclusión de tecnologías emergentes para la captura, transmisión, análisis y visualización de patrones de movimiento asociados a pacientes con trastornos músculo-esqueléticos. Esta estrategia permite llevar a cabo procesos de diagnóstico y tratamientos de rehabilitación a distancia. Este artículo presenta una revisión sistemática del desarrollo e implementación actual de las tecnologías de telerehabilitación en la región latinoamericana. El objetivo principal es explorar, a partir de la literatura científica reportada y fuentes divulgativas, si las tecnologías de telerehabilitación han logrado ser introducidas en esta región. Asimismo, este trabajo revela los prototipos actuales o sistemas que están en desarrollo o que ya están siendo usados. Se llevó a cabo una revisión sistemática, mediante dos búsquedas diferentes. La primera implicó una búsqueda bibliográfica rigurosa en los repositorios digitales científicos más relevantes en el área y la segunda incluyó proyectos y programas de telerehabilitación implementados en la región, encontrados a partir de una búsqueda avanzada en Google. Se encontró un total de 53 documentos de seis países (Colombia, Brasil, México, Ecuador, Chile y Argentina); la mayoría de ellos estaban enfocados en iniciativas académicas y de investigación para el desarrollo de prototipos tecnológicos para telerehabilitación de pacientes pediátricos y adultos mayores, afectados por deficiencias motoras o funcionales, parálisis cerebral, enfermedades neurocognitivas y accidente cerebrovascular. El análisis de estos documentos reveló la necesidad de un extenso enfoque integrado de salud y sistema social para aumentar la disponibilidad actual de iniciativas de telerehabilitación en la región latinoamericana.Telerehabilitation has arised by the inclusion of emerging technologies for capturing, transmitting, analyzing and visualizing movement patterns associated to musculoskeletal disorders. This therapeutic strategy enables to carry out diagnosis processes and provide rehabilitation treatments. This paper presents a systematic review of the current development and implementation of telerehabilitation technologies in Latin America. The main goal is to explore the scientific literature and dissemination sources to establish if such technologies have been introduced in this region. Likewise, this work highlights existing prototypes or systems that are to being used or that are still under development. A systematic search strategy was conducted by two different searches: the first one involves a rigorous literature search from the most relevant scientific digital repositories; the second one included telerehabilitation projects and programs retrieved by an advanced Google search. A total of 53 documents from six countries (Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina) were found. Most of them were focused on academic and research initiatives to develop in-home telerehabilitation technologies for pediatric and elderly populations affected by motor and functional impairment, cerebral palsy, neurocognitive disorders and stroke. The analysis of the findings revealed the need for a comprehensive approach that integrates health care and the social system to increase the current availability of telerehabilitation initiatives in Latin America

On the use of natural user interfaces in physical rehabilitation: a web-based application for patients with hip prosthesis

This study aims to develop a telemedicine platform for self-motor rehabilitation and remote monitoring by health professionals, in order to enhance recovery in patients after hip replacement. The implementation of such a technology is justified by medical (improvement of the recovery process by the possibility to perform rehabilitation exercises more frequently), economic (reduction of the number of medical appointments and the time patients spend at the hospital), mobility (diminution of the transportation to and from the hospital) and ethics (healthcare democratization and increased empowerment of the patient) purposes. The Kinect camera is used as a Natural User Interface to capture the physical exercises performed at home by the patients. The quality of the movement is evaluated in real-time by an assessment module implemented according to a Hidden-Markov Model approach. The results show a high accuracy in the evaluation of the movements (92% of correct classification). Finally, the usability of the platform is tested through the System Usability Scale (SUS). The overall SUS score is 81 out of 100, which suggests a good usability of the Web application. Further work will focus on the development of additional functionalities and an evaluation of the impact of the platform on the recovery process