An Affordable Augmented Reality Based Rehabilitation System for Hand Motions

Repetitive practices can facilitate the rehabilitation of the motor functions of the upper extremity for stroke survivors whose motor functions have been impaired. An affordable rehabilitation system for hand motion would be useful to provide intensive training to the patients. Augmented Reality (AR) can provide an intuitive interface to the users with programmable environment and realism feelings. In this research, a low cost viable rehabilitation system for hand motion is developed based on the AR technology. In this application, seamless interaction between the virtual environment and the real hand is supported with markers and a self-designed data-glove. The data-glove is low cost (<;200 Singapore dollars); it is used to detect the flexing of the fingers and control the movements of the virtual hands.