At the IEEE VR2010 Conference in Waltham, MA this week, several companies are hawking their wares for virtual reality products and technology. One great use of the technology comes from Swedish company Curictus, that combines the SensAble Phantom Omni with some VR glasses to create a small rehabilitation system.
This type of set-up can be used for rehabilitation. Turning exercises into a computerized game encourages patients to complete their exercises and keeps precise records of their performance, says Tommy Forsell at SenseGraphics, a company that provides open-source software for the combined device.
In another game, I used the stylus as a hammer to hit 3-D pop-up images. This game is designed to measure stroke patients' response times and the accuracy of their actions.
It’s not going to teach you to walk again, but in use for small fine motor control and reflex analysis, it should work great.
via Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors’ blog: VR and Haptics for Rehabilitation.
