Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Immersive Serious Games for Learning Physics

Gaming in Virtual Reality has been growing at a rapid pace in the last decade with the proliferation of affordable head mounted displays (HMDs) and development frameworks. There has been a lot of research regarding user’s spatial mapping, selection and orientation in VR, but so far not a lot of work has been done to measure performance on widgets used for other actions. In this document I aim to analyze two widgets, World in Miniature(WIM) and an isometric 2D display, in a common task in gaming: aiming and shooting at a long distance target. We measured performance from a quantitative perspective by measuring average aiming time and error rate between the widgets, and gathered user feedback to understand which widget the users preferred based on usability and perceived performance. The measured performance showed a significant difference in the error rate between the isometric 2D display and the baseline, but not with the WIM. The qualitative analysis showed that users were confident about their enjoyment of the WIM but more polarized about their opinion on the isometric 2D display. The results can be considered as a starting point to a broader discussion on spatial interaction. In particular we suggest that the importance of operation and manipulation ability of a widget might be more important than the information displayed on the widget itself

Designing games for chidren's rehabilitation.

The upsurge of video games applied to various contexts such as health care and education has led to an increased interest in strategies on how to design games that generate real-life outcomes, knowledge or skills useful outside of the game itself. However, the current state of game design research that borrows extensively from game studies is at the risk of inheriting a predisposition for descriptive over prescriptive theories, to the detriment of potential applicability and industrial relevance. This MPhil project explores a design strategy that is focused on producing and predicting real-life behavioural outcomes by emphasizing mechanics and interactions over rules and content. With the aim of scrutinizing this design strategy a multi-method case study was conducted during the concept phase of a video game that utilizes the Nintendo Wii’s motion-control capabilities, for the rehabilitation of children within the age range of 8 – 16 with an acquired brain injury (ABI). The action research method was used to explore the design thinking underpinning the mechanics and interactions that bring about behavioural outcomes; those which satisfy specific therapeutic needs in the areas of motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive skills. Design decisions were subsequently evaluated through a series of playtests performed with the purpose of tracing real-life behavioural outcomes back to their roots in mechanics and interactions. This study has led to a thorough understanding of the advantages and limitations of the applied game design strategy under scrutiny, and contributes to the field of game design studies by: 1) critically analysing some of the formal concepts that underpin our current understanding of applied game design; 2) promoting an applied game design strategy for therapeutic effect, that emphasizes mechanics and interactions over rules and content; 3) providing the basis for a playtest method for validating design decisions

A Person-Centric Design Framework for At-Home Motor Learning in Serious Games

abstract: In motor learning, real-time multi-modal feedback is a critical element in guided training. Serious games have been introduced as a platform for at-home motor training due to their highly interactive and multi-modal nature. This dissertation explores the design of a multimodal environment for at-home training in which an autonomous system observes and guides the user in the place of a live trainer, providing real-time assessment, feedback and difficulty adaptation as the subject masters a motor skill. After an in-depth review of the latest solutions in this field, this dissertation proposes a person-centric approach to the design of this environment, in contrast to the standard techniques implemented in related work, to address many of the limitations of these approaches. The unique advantages and restrictions of this approach are presented in the form of a case study in which a system entitled the "Autonomous Training Assistant" consisting of both hardware and software for guided at-home motor learning is designed and adapted for a specific individual and trainer. In this work, the design of an autonomous motor learning environment is approached from three areas: motor assessment, multimodal feedback, and serious game design. For motor assessment, a 3-dimensional assessment framework is proposed which comprises of 2 spatial (posture, progression) and 1 temporal (pacing) domains of real-time motor assessment. For multimodal feedback, a rod-shaped device called the "Intelligent Stick" is combined with an audio-visual interface to provide feedback to the subject in three domains (audio, visual, haptic). Feedback domains are mapped to modalities and feedback is provided whenever the user's performance deviates from the ideal performance level by an adaptive threshold. Approaches for multi-modal integration and feedback fading are discussed. Finally, a novel approach for stealth adaptation in serious game design is presented. This approach allows serious games to incorporate motor tasks in a more natural way, facilitating self-assessment by the subject. An evaluation of three different stealth adaptation approaches are presented and evaluated using the flow-state ratio metric. The dissertation concludes with directions for future work in the integration of stealth adaptation techniques across the field of exergames.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Computer Science 201

Multimodal Data Analysis of Dyadic Interactions for an Automated Feedback System Supporting Parent Implementation of Pivotal Response Treatment

abstract: Parents fulfill a pivotal role in early childhood development of social and communication skills. In children with autism, the development of these skills can be delayed. Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) techniques have been created to aid in skill acquisition. Among these, pivotal response treatment (PRT) has been empirically shown to foster improvements. Research into PRT implementation has also shown that parents can be trained to be effective interventionists for their children. The current difficulty in PRT training is how to disseminate training to parents who need it, and how to support and motivate practitioners after training. Evaluation of the parents’ fidelity to implementation is often undertaken using video probes that depict the dyadic interaction occurring between the parent and the child during PRT sessions. These videos are time consuming for clinicians to process, and often result in only minimal feedback for the parents. Current trends in technology could be utilized to alleviate the manual cost of extracting data from the videos, affording greater opportunities for providing clinician created feedback as well as automated assessments. The naturalistic context of the video probes along with the dependence on ubiquitous recording devices creates a difficult scenario for classification tasks. The domain of the PRT video probes can be expected to have high levels of both aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. Addressing these challenges requires examination of the multimodal data along with implementation and evaluation of classification algorithms. This is explored through the use of a new dataset of PRT videos. The relationship between the parent and the clinician is important. The clinician can provide support and help build self-efficacy in addition to providing knowledge and modeling of treatment procedures. Facilitating this relationship along with automated feedback not only provides the opportunity to present expert feedback to the parent, but also allows the clinician to aid in personalizing the classification models. By utilizing a human-in-the-loop framework, clinicians can aid in addressing the uncertainty in the classification models by providing additional labeled samples. This will allow the system to improve classification and provides a person-centered approach to extracting multimodal data from PRT video probes.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Computer Science 201

Design and implementation of an integrative system for configurable exergames targeting the senior population

Exergames have been proposed as a solution for the promotion of physical activity in the senior population. The diversity of needs and limitations of the target users demand that the exergaming systems allow the configuration and adjustment of game parameters according to each user profile. Such systems are ideal to use in nursing homes, senior gymnasiums, or even rehabilitation centers. Health and sports professionals are then the main interacting users with the interface of such exergaming systems. Configuration can be difficult and time-consuming when considering complex systems with a significant amount of parameter choices. Since professionals working on such places already have time constraints, if they face long-time configuration of these systems they might give up of using them. Therefore, there is an evident need for systems that assist professionals in two ways. First, providing management support for training sessions and plans with exergames. Second, providing automatic decision-making processes that assist in game selection and parameters configuration to fit the user needs. The acceptance and effectiveness of such systems can only be achieved if the main prospective interactors with the system are involved in the development process so that the system can fulfill the users’ needs and expectations. This thesis reports on the design, implementation, and usability evaluation of an integrative system using some of the most-known human-centric techniques, such as interviews, card sorting, and paper prototyping. Results of a usability study of the UI and the main functionalities of the system showed a considerable acceptance and interest by the professionals. The usability study revealed to be a great resource to find aspects of the system that should be further considered for improvement in future iterations. Furthermore, the high results of the USE (Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of use) questionnaire confirm that this system is a promising tool that sports professionals may be willing to use in their daily practice.A literatura suporta que os exergames, ou jogos que requerem exercício físico, constituem uma opção válida para promoção da atividade física na população idosa. A diversidade de necessidades e limitações do público-alvo exige que estes exergames sejam configuráveis de forma a permitir ajustar os parâmetros do jogo de acordo com o perfil de cada indivíduo. Estes sistemas personalizáveis são ideais para a utilização em lares, centros de dia, ginásios específicos para idosos ou até mesmo em centros de reabilitação. Os profissionais de saúde e de desporto são, assim, os principais utilizadores a definir as configurações destes exergames. Neste contexto, escolher as definições ideais para cada perfil pode ser um processo difícil e demorado, tendo em conta que a interface destes sistemas apresenta normalmente uma quantidade significativa de opções. Considerando que estes profissionais já têm constrangimentos de tempo na sua prática diária, se forem confrontados com uma interação longa e complexa com estes sistemas, podem acabar por desistir de usá-los. Neste sentido, existe uma clara necessidade de sistemas que auxiliem os profissionais a incluir os exergames na sua prática diária com a população idosa. Este sistema deverá assistir os profissionais de duas maneiras. Primeiro, que permita gerir sessões e planos de treino com os exergames. Segundo, que disponibilize processos de decisão automáticos de forma a auxiliar na escolha dos jogos, bem como nas configurações ideais para cada perfil de utilizador. A aceitação e a eficácia destes sistemas podem apenas ser alcançadas se os profissionais forem envolvidos no processo de desenvolvimento desde o início. Tal permitirá que este possa ser desenhado tendo em conta as suas necessidades e expectativas. Esta dissertação descreve as técnicas aplicadas no desenho, implementação e avaliação de um sistema integrativo para exergames, com base em algumas técnicas bem conhecidas na área de interação homemmáquina, como por exemplo entrevistas, card sorting e prototipagem em papel. Resultados de um estudo de usabilidade da interface do sistema integrativo demonstraram uma considerável aceitação e interesse por parte dos profissionais. O estudo de usabilidade revelou ser um bom recurso para encontrar aspetos do sistema que devem ser considerados para melhoramento em futuras iterações. Além disso, os resultados promissores do questionário USE (Utilidade, satisfação e facilidade de uso) confirmam que os profissionais poderão estar interessados em usar este sistema na sua prática diária