Broader Significance & Importance The PI proposes to conduct a four hour seminar at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) in San Diego, CA. The seminar's title will be "Virtual Reality, Gaming, and Individuals with Physical Disabilities - Developers Showcase." Participants in the workshop will include: - scientists and engineers who are using inexpensive virtual reality and gaming technologies (e.g., the Microsoft Kinect, the Nintendo Wii) to develop therapeutic activities for individuals with disabilities; - clinicians who have used virtual reality and gaming technologies with their clients; - individuals with disabilities who have an interest in virtual reality and gaming technologies The goals of the proposed seminar include: - increasing communication between software/hardware developers, between clinicians to developers, and between consumers to developers; - allowing developers to share "lessons learned" about hardware/software development in this area; - providing developers with insight into future gaming and virtual reality technologies; - giving developers the opportunity to receive feedback beyond the group of clinicians and consumers they regularly work with
Intellectual Merit: With recent technological advances in computers and the gaming industry, a growing field of study has emerged at the intersection of computer science and individuals with disabilities. Computer scientists and electrical engineers are developing software and hardware solutions for use by people with physical disabilities; health professionals are designing and testing systems for clinical therapeutic use; and tech start-ups and non-profits have already created adaptive and assistive technologies that are available for consumer use. However, there is a need for increased cross-collaboration between researchers, developers and clinicians in different labs and across different disciplines. This workshop will be part of a collaborative effort to create a forum where efforts can be celebrated and ideas can be shared.
Broader Impacts: Virtual reality and gaming technologies have the potential to dramatically increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation and therapy in a variety of fields and across a number of clinical populations. Fully capitalizing on this potential, however, will require active participation from scientists, engineers, clinicians and individuals with disabilities. The proposed workshop will provide a forum for inter-disciplinary collaboration and communication, which will advance this field towards its ultimate goal of deploying effective therapeutic systems based on virtual reality and gaming technologies.
