WHAM (VR Monitoring)
The Need
Virtual reality active video games (AVGs) are popular physical therapy interventional for children with hemiplegic cereal palsy (CP) because they can motivate children to engage in repetitive arm movements. Adherence to home-based AVG exercise programs is often low and therapists require a way of monitoring children's game play in order to progress game challenge and provide motivating feedback. The purpose of our project is to develop the prototype for a sensor-enabled smartphone app that track arm movement, measures energy expenditure, records game difficulty levels and capture children's self-reported motivation, in order to facilitate child-therapist communication during at home AVG interventions.
The Solution
The goal of the project is to design a shirt that uses motion sensors to monitor physical therapy patients during their home exercises. Physical therapists can then access this data in order to monitor their patients' progress. In addition, the client can use a smartphone app to engagement and efforts during game play. The app may also allow for video upload of game play so that therapists can monitor movement. quality. A prototype shirt has been developed with four sensors, one sensor on each shoulder and one on each triceps. The sensors are connected to an Ardiono, which automatically determines how many sensors if needed due to the plug-and-play design. The data collected from the sensors is sent to a Matlab program that records it. A script then uploads the data to a database. We have also designed a website that will integrate with the database so physical therapists can remotely monitor their patients' progress. The prototype also includes the basis for an app that connects with the website.