ISVR News & Members in the News

See the attached PDF file for more information.

Sebastian Koenig was announced as the winner of the award in the category Medicine and Health at the Laval Virtual Annual Awards ceremony, held in the Laval Theatre. His paper was on the Development of Virtual Environments for Patient-centred Rehabilitation.

Sebastian has also set up a blog on his website for those interested in the Unity game engine and other resources at: http://www.virtualgamelab.com/2/post/2010/04/unity-resources.html

                                                       Laval Virtual 2011 Website

Integrated arm and hand training using adaptive robotics and virtual reality simulations

A S Merians, G G Fluet, Q Qiu, S Saleh, I Lafond, S V Adamovich

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, USA

Virtual Reality simulations interfaced with robotic arm devices are being used for training the upper extremity of people post-stroke. The benefit has been hypothesized to be the ability to provide repetitive task practice, directed visual and auditory feedback, learning algorithms and graded resistive and assistive forces. All of these elements can be manipulated to provide individualized motor learning paradigms. We have developed a unique exercise system, interfaced with complex virtual reality gaming simulations that can train both the upper arm and the hand of people in the chronic phase post-stroke.  After two weeks of intensive training, eleven subjects, were able to more effectively control the limb during hand interaction with the target as demonstrated by improved proximal stability, smoothness and efficiency of the movement path. This was in concert with improvement in the distal kinematic measures of fractionation and improved timing. These changes in kinematic measures were accompanied by robust changes in functional tests of upper extremity motor control, the Wolf Motor Function Test, the Jebsen Test of Hand Function and the 9-hole Peg Test.

Alma Merians (lead author, pictured)                                             ICDVRAT Conference Website

Assessing navigation in real and virtual environments: a validation study

S T Koenig, G P Crucian, J C Dalrymple-Alford, A Dünser

University of Canterbury, NEW ZEALAND

For navigation ability, a transfer of knowledge from virtual training environments to real-world scenarios has been shown in several studies in the past. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate the equivalence of a series of navigation tasks in complex real-world and virtual buildings. Instead of testing knowledge transfer in very simple environments, identical tasks are performed in either version of a complex building. 29 participants are shown twelve landmarks, followed by a battery of tasks which are carried out in the real building by half of the participants, whereas the other half performs identical tasks in a virtual model of the same environment. No significant differences or effects were found, but due to the multifaceted nature of the gathered data and large variability within groups, overlap of both groups' distributions was minimal. To discover the underlying factors of this variability, further research is needed. Usability and future development of virtual environments are discussed.

Sebastian Keonig (lead author, pictured)                                       ICDVRAT Conference Website

Best Paper Shortlist:

Using augmented reality to support the understanding of three-dimensional concepts by blind people, C Kirner, T G Kirner, R S Wataya, J A Valente, Federal University of Itajuba/Adventist University of Sao Paulo/State University of Campinas, BRAZIL

Wearable device to assist independent living, R J McCrindle, V M Williams, C R Victor, A P Harvey, S R Nyman, J Barrett, H Hogarth, P Levene, R Smith, P Panek, G Edelmayer, P Mayer, P Needham, N Floratos, University of Reading/Brunel University/ Bournemouth University/Docobo Limited, UK, Technical University of Vienna, AUSTRIA and e-ISOTIS, GREECE

Integrated arm and hand training using adaptive robotics and virtual reality simulations, A S Merians, G G Fluet, Q Qiu, S Saleh, I Lafond, S V Adamovich, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, USA

Best Student Paper Shortlist:

Designing a workplace for workers with motion disability with a computer simulation and virtual reality techniques, P Budziszewski, A Grabowski, T Tokarski, M Dzwiarek, B Kurkus-Rozowska, J Jankowski, Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, POLAND

Assessing navigation in real and virtual environments: a validation study, S T Koenig, G P Crucian, J C Dalrymple-Alford, A Dünser, University of Canterbury, NEW ZEALAND

Participatory design with children with autism: the development of collaborative virtual environments, L Millen, S V Cobb, H Patel, University of Nottingham, UK

                                                                                                  ICDVRAT Conference Website

Virtual Iraq

Skip Rizzo, Barbara Rothbaum, JoAnn Difede and Greg Reger, have been awarded the 2010 Division 56 “Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Science of Trauma Psychology" by the American Psychological Association.

                                                American Psychological Association Trauma Division Honors

The International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation group on Facebook is going from strength to strength with current membership reaching over 530 individuals and groups.

                                                                                                                      ISVR on Facebook

Rachel McCrindle was awarded the top prize for Academic Excellence at the UK's Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Awards Ceremony 2010

                                                                      Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Awards 2010

                                                                                         University of Reading Press Release