Context‐aware user profiles to improve media synchronicity for individuals with severe motor disabilities

As a significant number of individuals have severe motor disabilities due to neurological and musculoskeletal conditions, it is important to provide them with an appropriate rehabilitation program in order to improve their quality of life. Several study results suggest that many elements of the interactive games have tremendous potential as rehabilitation tools. Serious games can entertain the players, while rewarding and reinforcing healthy movements. As these technologies create a pleasant environment, they motivate the patients to perform the necessary exercises with satisfaction and total relaxation, even forgetting that they are conducting therapy. In this sense, various serious games are being applied in healthcare settings, namely in many physical therapy and rehabilitation situations. This chapter discusses the different potentialities of several serious games when used in physical therapy and rehabilitation of patients with problems in motor skills.

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Noninvasive Brain–Machine Interfaces for Robotic Devices

Annual Review of Control Robotics and Autonomous Systems ◽

10.1146/annurev-control-012720-093904 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Luca Tonin ◽

José del R. Millán

Keyword(s):

Autonomous Systems ◽

Discrete Control ◽

Annual Review ◽

Publication Date ◽

User Centered Design ◽

Brain Machine Interfaces ◽

Motor Disabilities ◽

Severe Motor ◽

Robotic Devices ◽

And Robotics

The last decade has seen a flowering of applications driven by brain–machine interfaces (BMIs), particularly brain-actuated robotic devices designed to restore the independence of people suffering from severe motor disabilities. This review provides an overview of the state of the art of noninvasive BMI-driven devices based on 86 studies published in the last 15 years, with an emphasis on the interactions among the user, the BMI system, and the robot. We found that BMIs are used mostly to drive devices for navigation (e.g., telepresence mobile robots), with BMI paradigms based mainly on exogenous stimulation, and the majority of brain-actuated robots adopt a discrete control strategy. Most critically, in only a few works have disabled people evaluated a brain-actuated robot. The review highlights the most urgent challenges in the field, from the integration between BMI and robotics to the need for a user-centered design to boost the translational impact of BMIs. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, Volume 4 is May 3, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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