Overview

For this project I took my understanding in the lack of user engagement while partaking in rehabilitation. With this I decided to face the following question: "How disruptive technology can be used to support Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation(PM&R) for neurodegenerative diseases". How could I use technologies to not only help with the rehabilitation process but also increase user engagement within the home environment.

The prototype was created using an Arduino, Microsoft Kinect and Unity 3D.

The problem

Patients partaking in rehabilitation exercise activities at home would lack motivation and engagement. Often leading to near to no improvement at the end of the treatment.

The goal

Create a solution which will enable patients to enjoy the rehabilitation exercises in the space of their home while engaging in an activity of play.

The team

I had tackled the project by myself to create and deliver a solution to the task at hand.

Responsibilities

UX design, Interaction design, Prototyping, and Testing.

The Process

My process will be different in different projects and will be determined by many factors such as the project goals, needs, complexity of the problem, time and etc. Here I’ll describe my process for solving this problem.

Research

Define the user

Before I set my feet into thinking about solutions and designs I drove into user research to understand the customers pain points while partaking in the exercises at home. I had read through multiple clinical trials of Drs using the concept of play in the world of medicine and rehabilitation. Once I had completed and collated all the data I found patterns in users perceptions and tasks; aggregated the findings in the form of a persona.

Key Findings

• Patients taking part in rehabilitation in the home environment were very discouraged and often failed to complete the required activities

• Lack of motivation over the course of treatment

Ideation

solution

An interactive environment was my solution to the problem. Creating a product that would provide the users with an easy set up that transformed any room in their home/ environment into an interactive rehabilitative environment.

Design

Low-fidelity sketches

Due to the budget of the project I had to develop a low fidelity product using alternative methods. A torch light was reflected onto a mirror, used as a low cost spot light, which users would control using their arms (the arms being the targeted area of the rehabilitation).

Low-Fidelity Prototype

The low-fidelity prototype was created using: a Microsoft Kinect, Arduino, two motors, cardboard, a mirror and torch; acting as a spotlight. Once placed together I was able to create a mechanism which mimicked a 360° rotating spotlight.

How did it work?

The breakdown

A Microsoft Kinect sensor is used to pick up the movement of the user. The Kinect sensor transforms an ordinary room into a space capable of translating gestures into digital information. The digital information is then mapped into the Arduino which is used to control the system. I had programmed the Arduino using C/C++ to pick up the translated gestures through Unity 3D (game engine) to control the motors with the users gestures. Two servo motors were used to control the direction of the light reflected (left, right, up, and down). The users would partake in a simple shape matching activity which allowed the rehabilitative activity to become fun and engaging; promoting play within rehabilitation.

User test

Testing the idea

Due to the nature of the project I was unable to test on patients suffering with neurodegenerative diseases. However, as engagement was a major pain point of the patients I had tested the prototype to establish the engagement of the activity with and without the device.

To measure the success of this test we defined to track:

• The ability to complete the full exercise without loss of motivation

Project learning

What have I learned from this project?

• The power in enhancing user experience

• User research is vital to tackle the users pain points effectively

• Process in essential. For a project that is vast, it gives you a roadmap to navigate through what can be a clouded confusing route