Virtual reality and a haptic master-slave set-up in post-stroke upper-limb rehabilitation

Since the number of stroke patients is ever growing, and since studies show that the patients can benefit from more exercise, the possible use of virtual reality and haptic devices in the rehabilitation of stroke patients is researched. Besides offering more independent and challenging exercise possibilities, the inherent registration capabilities of the haptic devices open up the possibility of monitoring patients' motions in an objective way. This research results in the implementation of a VR mock-up of an exercise in which patients use both hands and a stick to push away a ball that is tossed at them. In this mock-up, two FCS HapticMasters are used in a master-slave set-up to mimic the behaviour of the stick. The implementation of the scene shows that there are currently limitations, in the hardware as well as in the software, that cause the virtual exercise to behave differently to the real-life exercise. Consequences for the therapeutic value are subject to further research.