A bilateral rehabilitation method for arm coordination and manipulation function with gesture and haptic interfaces

Disabilities after neural injury such as stroke bring tremendous burden to the patients, families and society. Besides the conventional constrained-induced training with the paretic arm, bilateral rehabilitation training involves both the ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the neural injury, fits well the fact that both arms are needed in common activities of daily living (ADLs), and can promote good functional recovery. In this work, a bilateral rehabilitation training method is proposed and implemented with the Leap Motion sensor and omega.7 haptic interface. The Leap Motion sensor detects the motion of the healthy hand, and the omega.7 device, according to the cooperative task paradigm, assists the paretic hand as much as needed with active force feedback to accomplish the manipulation task. A virtual scenario has been built up, and the motion and force data enables visual and audio feedback in real time as well as further analysis of the functional capabilities of the patient. This task-oriented bimanual training paradigm encourages active involvement of the patients into rehabilitation, strengthens cooperation of both the healthy and impaired hands, challenges the dexterous manipulation capability of the paretic hand, suits easy home use, and thus, promises effective rehabilitation therapy.