HomeReha

As part of this project, a prototype of a gamified rehabilitation system was developed to supplement the rehabilitation of stroke patients through independent training at home. The aim is to increase the independence of those affected by promoting both the functionality of the paralyzed arm and basic cognitive skills. The prototype comprises a computer application and various control devices.

The unique selling point of the prototype is the combination of motor and cognitive training with haptic feedback during grasping. Grasping is a very high priority in stroke rehabilitation, as it is of crucial importance in everyday life.

It is the first sensory rehabilitation system that positions the hand in the neutral position, which increases comfort during use and offers physiological benefits. The existing innovative medical device handscupe®(Opens in a new tab)  from the company iMEDgine GmbH was provided for the positioning.

This project was realized as part of a bachelor's thesis in the Biomedical Engineering study program  in the Faculty of Information Technology . The training components were developed in collaboration with specialists in cognitive and stroke rehabilitation, including occupational therapists. The practical implementation took place with the support of the start-up service: on the one hand through the successful application for Kickstart funding from Fachhochschule Dortmund and on the other hand through the provision of technical equipment and guidance in the workshop of the SQuArEs Makerspace  at Fachhochschule Dortmund.

The project comprises two specially developed control devices: one for severely impaired patients with the hand in the neutral position and one for less severely impaired patients for practicing the cylinder and clamp grip. These are supplemented by cuffs for recording the hand position. The Arduino Nano ESP32 developer board is integrated into the control units and cuffs. Communication between the cuffs and the control units is wireless. This allows the orientation of the upper and lower arm to be sent to the control units. Furthermore, the control units use a UART interface to serve as an input device for the computer application. The control units were programmed using the Arduino IDE. With the exception of the handscupe®, all control unit housings were modeled in a CAD program and then produced using a 3D printing process.

The associated application was developed using the game engine from Unity Technologies. The required scripts were implemented in the C# programming language. Knowledge from the elective module "Extended Reality" was included. The determined absolute orientation of the cuffs enables hand tracking by means of direct kinematics.