Serious Games Integrated With Rehabilitation Structures and Assist-as-Need Techniques

Abstract

The video game market has been experiencing constant growth throughout the last decade, especially after 2008 with the rise of mobile gaming and after 2016 with virtual and augmented reality technologies. As a result of the ever-growing applications of games, the rehabilitation process of disabilities caused by stroke, cerebral palsy, and other neurological diseases has incorporated games designed to assist recovery. Based on these facts, this chapter deals with the development of two serious games designed to be integrated with two structures: ReGear, a new design for interlimb rehabilitation mechanisms, and HOPE-G, a novel gait rehabilitation structure capable of balance training. Both systems apply assist-as-needed control techniques to improve the outcomes of the treatment. The first clinical trials in one of the structures were conducted on a group of healthy volunteers and another with post-stroke patients, showing encouraging results regarding the serious game and the mechanical design.