A management system for motion-based gaming peripherals for physical therapy instrumentation

Abstract

The rise in motion-based gaming peripherals has afforded intriguing opportunities for low-cost instrumentation of health-oriented activities. One particular activity, that of physical therapy, is of considerable interest as traditional systems in the area cost on the order of tens of thousands of dollars. However, while recent research has shown that gaming peripherals can deliver high quality instrumentation, non-expert programmers face considerable challenges in delivering robust and accurate instrumentation outside of the lab environment. Furthermore, when one considers how to fuse data across multiple peripherals, the heterogeneity of peripheral performance significantly complicates recording useful data. To that end, this paper seeks to describe our approach for delivering a robust, accurate, and scalable framework for motion-based gaming peripherals, specifically targeted at physical therapy in the clinical and research settings. We describe the principles of our framework and composition of data flow through a variety of illustrative examples. Finally, we conclude with several experimental setups designed to demonstrate the efficacy of the framework drawn directly from our experience in live clinical settings.