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Trees and apples
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Virtual hand in front of cards
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Menu system
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We made PT into VT
Inspiration
We have both been inspired by virtual reality for a long time and feel that devices such as Oculus will be in the homes of every family in the future. With this comes a huge opening for innovative techniques in daily living and even physical therapy.
My grandfather suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke a few years ago and never recovered from his accident. One reason he is now bedridden is because he refused to go to therapy and wanted to stay home instead. If he would have had the devices and program we have today he might be living a completely different and improved life.
What it does
Virtual Therapy allows patients, such as stroke victims, to perform exercises in a more modern and fun way than the usual physical therapy exercises. We mirrored exercises such as the basic hand motion of making a fist then releasing we mirrored this action by making a virtual game of grabbing apples from a trees. We also used different colors of apples to help stimulate brain function. We did this with several of the arm, wrist and hand exercises performed in physical therapy.
How we built it
We used blender to create rooms and objects and put it all together using unity. We used Oculus and the leap motion device to make the experience virtual to the patient.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into a major set up problem when we realized we had the wrong connections to the monitor and computer. We also ran into a few minor unity problems and blender problems.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we created a project that can simulate a virtual world and the ability to see our hands in the world. We have a few working demo levels and through our research we have found that even those might be helpful to people.
What we learned
We learned that details are crucial. We also learned a lot about Unity and Blender while making the little parts. We lastly learned how awesome Oculus and Leap Motion are.
What's next for Virtual Therapy
Next we can try to add voice stimulation for speech therapy, possibly commands for neurological stimulation, and also a way to include leg therapy into the virtual world, as of right now just the arms are working,
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