TRACK 4(2) | SELF MANAGEMENT PART1 | DAY 2 - 1 NOV 2016 Nunzio Alberto Borghese, Full Professor | Università di MIlano (IT) Games for Health Europe 2016

1. Games4Health Europe 1/13
Hand rehabilitation: exergames
and sensorized objects
N. Alberto Borghese, Renato Mainetti, Jacopo Essenziale, Erica Cavalli,
Elena Mancon, Giorgio Pajardi
Laboratory of Applied Intelligent Systems
Department of Computer Science
Plastic surgery school
Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
and
Hand Surgery Department
S. Joseph Hospital, Milan, Italy

2. Games4Health Europe 2/13
Motivation
CONGENITAL MALFORMATION
(thumb hypoplasia, syndactyly,
Polydactyly, symbrachidactyly…)
TRAUMA
(Fractures, partial or total
amputation….)

3. Games4Health Europe 3/13
Focus on children (3-6 years old)
Approach based on gaming.
Kids have different ages, different pathologies and different abilities
and disabilities.
We need a suite of modular personalized components and suitable
games.
Not only physical toys. Tablets have become toys themselves.
Training of mobility and strength.

4. Games4Health Europe 4/13
Exer-games for strength
Exer-game running on a tablet or on a smartphone controlled by a
toy with a sensor embedded stimulating pinching or pressing force
A modular micro-architecture has been built: sensor, amplifier,
micro-controller, wifi transmitter have been embedded.
Wireless communication between sensor and the host device.
pinching
Pressing

5. Games4Health Europe 5/13
The tracker components
Pressure sensor with
adjustable width

6. Games4Health Europe 6/13
Lower cost version
The sensor is embedded in a toy. It connects wireless with the host.
On/off signal.
Crocodile in thermoplastic powder synthesized with a 3D printer.
Wirelss Bluetooth communication with the host (a smart phone).
At home version (tested presently by 5 patients at home autonomously)

7. Games4Health Europe 7/13
Exer-games for fingers mobility
Exercises, designed around the vocabulary of basic interaction
movements (Iberall, Mc Kenzie, 1991). Games designed on the top
of the exercises (Borghese et al. 2015).
Runnung exer-games. Different “games”. A spaceship is driven (or
an avatar, or a submarine) to avoid “enemies” and collect “points”.

8. Games4Health Europe 8/13
Different playing modalities
Movement elicited are pinching or sliding.
Good game design rules have been followed: clear feed-back,
surprise, clear mechanics. Music has been added.
Caregiver can help in using the right modality of interaction.

9. Games4Health Europe 9/13
Tapping or sliding for younger children
(but not only)

10. Games4Health Europe 10/13
Interaction with clinicians
Player
Lego toy Videogames
Patient at home Clinician at hospital
Configuration
Level of difficulty adaptation
Review of results (assessment
and evaluation)

11. Games4Health Europe 11/13
Usability study
Early results (28 young patients):
- great motivating tool
- strong interest from patients & parents
- fast training, exponential learning curve
- overall fair compliance

12. Games4Health Europe 12/13
Conclusion
• Enhanced occupations therapy for young
children
• Use at home allows gathering quantitative
information on rehabilitation
• Very high compliance.
• Gamification (adequate to age) might be
integrated to increase long lasting compliance.
• Role of parents in motivation is important.
• Not only rehabilitation: smart trackers,
transparent monitoring …

13. Games4Health Europe 13/13
Thank you for your attention!
For further information: alberto.borghese@unimi.it
N.A. Borghese, R. Mainetti, J. Essenziale, E. Cavalli, E.M.
Mancon and G. Pajardi, Hand Rehabilitation with Toys with
Embedded Sensors, Proc. ICNR2016.
M Pirovano, R Mainetti, G Baud-Bovy, PL Lanzi, NA Borghese,
(2016) IGER - Intelligent Game Engine for Rehabilitation, IEEE
Trans. on CIAIG. Vol.8(1), March 2016, pp. 43-55.
M. Pirovano, E. Surer, R. Mainetti, P.L. Lanzi, and N.A.
Borghese (2015). Exergaming and rehabilitation: a
methodology for the design of effective and safe therapeutic
exergames", Entertainment Computing 10/2015.
G. Baud-Bovy, F. Tatti and N.A. Borghese (2015) Influence of
Haptic Effects Rendered by a Low-Cost Force-Feedback
Device on Postural Stability in Younger and Older Adults, IEEE
Trans. on Haptics, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 130-139, 2015.
Seline Wüest, Nunzio Alberto Borghese, Michele Pirovano,
Rolf van de Langenberg, Eling D. de Bruin (2014), Usability
and Effects of an Exergame-Based Balance Training
Program, Games for Health Journal. Volume 3, Number 2,
2014, pp. 106-113.

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15. Games4Health Europe 15/13
Thank you for your attention!
For further information: alberto.borghese@unimi.it
Research partially funded by:
FITREHAB
MOVECARE

16. Games4Health Europe 16/13
Not only rehabilitation
MOVECARE H2020 project
Transparent monitor Activities: smart trackers
we are hiring!