A Technology for Computer-Assisted Stroke Rehabilitation

Improving functional ability after a stroke requires task-oriented physical rehabilitation with the supervision of a therapist. However, with increasing medical costs and a shortage of rehabilitation specialists, post-stroke survivors sometimes receive a limited amount of individual treatment.\\ This paper proposes a low-cost computer-assisted rehabilitation system, called Virtual Coach that evaluates and guides a post-stroke survivor to engage in rehabilitation correctly at home with minimal supervision of a therapist. This system includes two major components: 1) motion analysis modules that evaluate exercise performance and guide a desirable joint trajectory and 2) a dialogue interface to provide feedback. The evaluation function of motion analysis modules computed exercise performance scores of 15 post-stroke survivors and achieved a 78% agreement with a practicing clinician. After developing a guidance function, the usability of the system will be evaluated with post-stroke survivors and therapists and iteratively improved.