Eye-hand coordination assessment/therapy using a robotic haptic device

In this paper we discuss the possibility of improving eye-hand coordination in children diagnosed with this problem, using a robotic mapping from a haptic user interface to a virtual environment. Our goal is to develop an assessment and training procedure that will result in improving handwriting taking advantage of the force feedback provided by the haptic device. We also incorporate inertia and viscosity effects to decrease the tremor in the hand as well as to stimulate the muscles involved in the task of holding a pencil (known as facilitation technique in the occupational therapy field). A set of assessment tests, commonly used by occupational therapists, were chosen to implement various functions using force, inertia and viscosity effects. The test bed used for these tasks consisted of a six-degree-of-freedom force-reflecting haptic interface device, PHANToM with the GHOST SDK Software.