Rehabilitation, VR and hydrotherapy
Rehabilitation exercises only help if people keep doing them, so the lab turns them into games and virtual worlds: a shoulder game played in front of a camera, a VR room where amputees learn to work a myoelectric hand before they get one, and robots for therapy in the pool.
Practise with a hand you do not have yet
A myoelectric prosthesis opens and closes when the wearer tenses muscles in the forearm. It takes practice, and many people give up. In VR, people can practise with a virtual prosthesis before the real one is ready. Hold the button to tense the muscle, and switch the vibration feedback on and off.
Electrodes on the forearm pick up the muscle signal. When its envelope crosses a threshold, the virtual hand closes. A tracker on the arm moves the hand in VR, and small vibration motors on the forearm buzz when it grips something. In tests with amputees and non-amputees, the people who felt the buzz did better.
Sources: IEEE VR Workshops 2021, SVR 2022 and IEEE VR Workshops 2024. The muscle signal here is simulated and the hand is a drawing, not the system's software.
Why VR training has not reached the clinic
A review of 42 papers on extended reality for prosthesis training found benefits, and two gaps. Most systems were tested on a flat screen rather than in a headset, and most large studies never included an amputee.
Source: IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2022.
Thirty seconds of shoulder therapy
Shoulder exercises at home are dull, and therapy visits are expensive. A cheap camera and a simple game can do some of the work: follow a moving ball for 30 seconds using only the shoulder. Try a round with your pointer, or the arrow keys.
In the study, a low-cost depth camera followed the shoulder alone, so the only way to steer was to lift and swing the arm. 23 healthy volunteers played for a few minutes a day over four days, and the game got harder each level. One person with a shoulder injury improved significantly.
Source: Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum, 2013. The ball path and levels here are made for the browser and are not the original game.
Mirrors, wheelchairs and water
The healthy hand leads
After a stroke, muscle signals from the unaffected arm can drive an exoskeleton on the paralysed one, so both hands work together on tasks in VR.
Driving with the shoulders
A wearable interface turned shoulder and elbow movements into wheelchair commands. Its readings matched optical tracking (r = 0.86 to 0.94) in six people, and a spinal cord injury patient learned to drive a virtual wheelchair with it within a week.
Therapy at a distance
Hand tracking in VR so a therapist and a patient can share a rehabilitation game from different places.
HydrotheraBots
Robots, AI and extended reality for rehabilitation that moves between land and water, funded by a 2025 QRDI grant.
Papers and grants
10 papers
- 2026HydrotheraBots: Integrating Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Extended Reality for Hybrid Land-Water Rehabilitation
QU2026 IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems (CIS) and IEEE International Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics (RAM) - 2024Sensory Feedback in a Serious Gaming Environment and Virtual Reality for Training Upper Limb Amputees
QU2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 1 citation - 2023Virtual Reality Hand Tracking for Immersive Telepresence in Rehabilitative Serious Gaming
QULecture Notes in Computer Science, 2 citations - 2022Extended Reality “X-Reality” for Prosthesis Training of Upper-Limb Amputees: A Review on Current and Future Clinical Potential
QUIEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 30 citations - 2022VR Serious Game for Myoelectric Prosthesis Training with Tactile Feedback
QUAnais Estendidos do XXIV Simpósio de Realidade Virtual e Aumentada (SVR Estendido 2022) - 2021A VR-Based Serious Game Associated to EMG Signal Processing and Sensory Feedback for Upper Limb Prosthesis Training
QULecture Notes in Computer Science, 2 citations - 2021The Importance of Sensory Feedback to Enhance Embodiment During Virtual Training of Myoelectric Prostheses Users
QU2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) - 2016A Hands-Free Interface for Controlling Virtual Electric-Powered Wheelchairs
QUInternational Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 8 citations - 2014A Prototype Of Virtually Interactive Hand Activating Devise - Low Cost Portable Head Mounted System (VIHAD Plus) For Neurological Rehabilitation
QUQatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1 - 2013Home-Based Rehabilitation Systems
NUSQatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2013 Issue 1
Grants
- 2025HYDROTHERABOTS: HYDROTHERApy using RoBOTS, AI, and VR Technologies for Physical Rehabilitation
US$745,312 · QRDI Council · Lead Principal Investigator - 2022A Comprehensive System for Clinical Rehabilitation of Upper-Limb Amputees in Virtual Reality
US$297,613 · Qatar University · Lead Principal Investigator - 2012Load Configuration Physiotherapy System for the Upper Extremities for Patients with Hemiparesis
US$7,852 · Mitsui Sumitomo · Sole Investigator