This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project investigates the feasibility of creating a mixed reality (MR) haptics-based virtual reality system that will aid the physical rehabilitation of individuals with upper extremity disabilities. This MR rehabilitation system will include both hardware and software designed to induce neuroplastic cortical changes, increase mobility, and raise upper extremity related activities of daily living in disabled patients. The goal of this project is to address the technical issues of creating such a system, evaluating it with a human factors analysis, and developing a commercial prototype. Additionally, this project will increase the understanding of state-of-the-art alternatives and/or adjuncts to traditional rehabilitation therapy for disabled patients.
This project will lead to the development of new software and hardware that can be used for further discoveries and technological developments in virtual/augmented/mixed reality systems. Of the over twelve million families in the U.S. alone that have members with a physical disability, this project will pave the way for the development of future rehabilitation systems to help this broad and underserved population, add to the public health knowledge base that could help other physically disabled people in the future, and provide the commercial rehabilitation market a new tool for upper extremity physical rehabilitation that is both enjoyable and more effective than current physical rehabilitation methods. By increasing disabled patients' upper extremity mobility, this MR system will also increase their activities of daily living and their ability to use the internet to participate in online communities.
