Handy Juice Bar: a Hand Rehabilitation Game using Immersive VR and Finger Tracking

Abstract

Virtual reality is a part of normal daily activities for many people. Over time this modality has been adopted into healthcare to complement interventions and treatments. Benefits of immersive Virtual Reality Rehabilitation (VRR) may include increased motivation and an improved transfer of skills to real-world daily tasks which fits with core principles of occupational therapy practice. The introduction of VR headsets featuring controller-free finger tracking has allowed for the development of VRR games that do not need VR controllers. This is beneficial as patients with upper limb trauma may have difficulties with or may be unable to use VR controllers. In this paper, we present the development of a VRR game called “Handy Juice Bar”. We outline the process of design and development of this VRR, as well as a preliminary study to evaluate the performance in the game of upper limb rehabilitation patients. Twenty participants were recruited at occupational therapy services of one acute and one subacute hospital.