Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context
In recent years, the need to contain healthcare costs due to the growing public debt of many countries, combined with the need to reduce costly travel by patients unable to move autonomously, have captured the attention of public administrators towards tele-rehabilitation. This trend has been consol...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/4/457 |
| _version_ | 1797396696871731200 |
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| author | Damiano Perri Martina Fortunelli Marco Simonetti Riccardo Magni Jessica Carloni Osvaldo Gervasi |
| author_facet | Damiano Perri Martina Fortunelli Marco Simonetti Riccardo Magni Jessica Carloni Osvaldo Gervasi |
| author_sort | Damiano Perri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent years, the need to contain healthcare costs due to the growing public debt of many countries, combined with the need to reduce costly travel by patients unable to move autonomously, have captured the attention of public administrators towards tele-rehabilitation. This trend has been consolidated overwhelmingly following the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it precarious, difficult and even dangerous for patients to access hospital facilities. We present an approach based on the rapid prototyping of virtual reality, cognitive tele-rehabilitation exercises, which reinforce the group of exercises available in the Nu!reha platform. Patients who experienced injury or pathology need to practice continuous training in order to recover functional abilities, and the therapist needs to monitor the outcomes of such practices. The group of new exercises based on the rapid prototyping approach, become crucial especially in this pandemic period. The Virtual Reality exercises are designed on Unity 3D to empower the therapist to set up personalized exercises in an easy way, enabling the patient to receive personalized stimuli, which are essential for a positive outcome in the practice. Furthermore, the reaction speed of the system is of fundamental importance, as the temporal evolution of the scene must proceed parallel to the patient’s movements, to ensure an effective and efficient therapeutic response. So, we optimized the virtual reality application in order to make the loading phase and the startup phase as fast as possible and we have tested the results obtained with many devices: in particular computers and smartphones with different operating systems and hardware. The implemented method powers up the Nu!Reha system<sup>®</sup>, a collection of tele-rehabilitation services that helps patients to recover cognitive and functional capabilities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:55:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-091b387cc5f74ac3ad8d3ea644caed1a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:55:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-091b387cc5f74ac3ad8d3ea644caed1a2023-12-11T16:55:19ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922021-02-0110445710.3390/electronics10040457Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation ContextDamiano Perri0Martina Fortunelli1Marco Simonetti2Riccardo Magni3Jessica Carloni4Osvaldo Gervasi5Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, ItalyPragma Engineering Srl, 06135 Perugia, ItalyDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, ItalyPragma Engineering Srl, 06135 Perugia, ItalyPragma Engineering Srl, 06135 Perugia, ItalyDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, ItalyIn recent years, the need to contain healthcare costs due to the growing public debt of many countries, combined with the need to reduce costly travel by patients unable to move autonomously, have captured the attention of public administrators towards tele-rehabilitation. This trend has been consolidated overwhelmingly following the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it precarious, difficult and even dangerous for patients to access hospital facilities. We present an approach based on the rapid prototyping of virtual reality, cognitive tele-rehabilitation exercises, which reinforce the group of exercises available in the Nu!reha platform. Patients who experienced injury or pathology need to practice continuous training in order to recover functional abilities, and the therapist needs to monitor the outcomes of such practices. The group of new exercises based on the rapid prototyping approach, become crucial especially in this pandemic period. The Virtual Reality exercises are designed on Unity 3D to empower the therapist to set up personalized exercises in an easy way, enabling the patient to receive personalized stimuli, which are essential for a positive outcome in the practice. Furthermore, the reaction speed of the system is of fundamental importance, as the temporal evolution of the scene must proceed parallel to the patient’s movements, to ensure an effective and efficient therapeutic response. So, we optimized the virtual reality application in order to make the loading phase and the startup phase as fast as possible and we have tested the results obtained with many devices: in particular computers and smartphones with different operating systems and hardware. The implemented method powers up the Nu!Reha system<sup>®</sup>, a collection of tele-rehabilitation services that helps patients to recover cognitive and functional capabilities.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/4/457Blendercognitive exercisesNu!Rehatele-rehabilitationUnity3Dvirtual reality |
| spellingShingle | Damiano Perri Martina Fortunelli Marco Simonetti Riccardo Magni Jessica Carloni Osvaldo Gervasi Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context Electronics Blender cognitive exercises Nu!Reha tele-rehabilitation Unity3D virtual reality |
| title | Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context |
| title_full | Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context |
| title_fullStr | Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context |
| title_short | Rapid Prototyping of Virtual Reality Cognitive Exercises in a Tele-Rehabilitation Context |
| title_sort | rapid prototyping of virtual reality cognitive exercises in a tele rehabilitation context |
| topic | Blender cognitive exercises Nu!Reha tele-rehabilitation Unity3D virtual reality |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/4/457 |
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