Rapid Development Environments for Therapy Games: Looking Glass Therapy Games for Cerebral Palsy Treatment Utilizing the Kinect

Cerebral palsy is a group of neurological disorders that impair body movement, muscle coordination, hearing, vision, and cognitive function. Symptoms vary but can include muscle weakness, muscle and joint tightness, abnormal or unsteady gait, seizures, learning disabilities, speech problems, as well as hearing or vision problems [1]. Although cerebral palsy cannot be cured, treatments such as physical and occupational therapy can greatly help affected children develop motor skills needed to increase mobility and foster independence [2]. Computer based therapy games have shown promise in helping stroke survivors recover from stroke [3]. Initially, stroke therapy games developed in Looking Glass utilized Nintendo Wii remotes (informally known as Wiimotes) to sense user’s movements. Challenges unfolded with stroke patients who were unable to grasp Wiimotes, thereby limiting and inhibiting game development and the user experience [3]. In this paper, I describe my efforts to integrate the Microsoft Kinect with Looking Glass and build therapy games that utilize the Kinect to track user movements. I detail the Kinect integration and discuss its advantages of seated skeletal tracking with no hand held devices required by the user. Type of Report: MS Project Report Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 Rapid Development Environments for Therapy Games: Looking Glass Therapy Games for Cerebral Palsy Treatment Utilizing the Kinect Melynda Eden [email protected] Department of Computer Science and Engineering Washington University in St. Louis CSE MS Project Report