Application of wireless technology for a vision based rehabilitation system

Though several assistive technologies are available for home-based rehabilitation of stroke patients, people are not using the same for several reasons. Lack of technical competence, chance of electrocution is some of such issues. The cables/ wires of different instruments, measuring devises, rehabilitation systems are often the source of infection; causes of electrocution, discomfort and immobility. This has led to implement wireless technology/ system for medical applications. Accordingly researches are going on to use wireless technologies for different purposes of rehabilitation. The present work uses a wireless night vision camera for gaze tracking of the patient for 24×7 support eliminating the use of cables/ wires and thus reducing the chances of infections and other hazardous. The camera along with a power supply (battery) serves as a standalone unit for ready deployment. The control computer can be set up at a distance even out of the cabin and helps the physiotherapists and healthcare staffs to monitor and assist several patients remotely at a time. The experiments have been carried out in both day and night with users wearing spectacles or no spectacles. Promising results have been obtained in spite of several issues of data loss, IR glaring etc. Several applications of wireless technologies have been attempted, but use of such approach has never been tried earlier. This system has huge potential for application for day and night support and rehabilitation of stroke patients.