The horizons of virtual reality are becoming increasingly more and more popular, embracing not only pure entertainment but also crucial industrial and rehabilitative sectors. Within the SUN XR project, the new challenges of virtual reality are materializing through the creation of serious games designed to innovate the rehabilitation landscape. These serious games create new rehabilitation techniques trying to improve traditional ones, which often rely on direct physical interaction between patient and therapist. Within the SUN XR project, targeted serious games are conceived to support orthopedic patients in their rehabilitation journey, transforming long therapeutic sessions into experiences that not only increase focus but are also intrinsically motivating.
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna is developing highly wearable haptic interfaces to be integrated in these serious games, in order to interact with the displayed virtual objects and to perceive tactile hints about how the motor tasks are performed.
Through the use of these new technologies, the limitations of traditional techniques are overcome, such as the lack of exercise repeatability, therapy personalization and objective measurements on patient’s kinematics. In this way, patients can approach the rehabilitation process more effectively and satisfactorily, with the aim of a faster recovery.