Collaborative tele-rehabilitation: A strategy for increasing engagement

Loureiro, R.C.V., Johnson, M.J. and Harwin, W.S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3928-3381 (2006) Collaborative tele-rehabilitation: A strategy for increasing engagement. In: 2006 1st IEEE RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, Vols 1-3. IEEE, New York, pp. 596-601. ISBN 9781424400393

Abstract/Summary

This paper examines the influence of a collaborative rehabilitation environment that encourages a long-distance collaborative "play" using two robot-mediated environments. This study presents a strategy for increasing motivation on able-bodied persons, applicable to impaired persons, to engage, sustain play and relate during a shared task. The study consisted of a series of eighteen single case studies, each involved in two distinct phases and assessed using a multidimensional measurement intended to assess participant' subjective experience. The results showed a clear positive trend in favour of the robot-mediated game environment. Subjects found the collaborative environment more valuable and more interesting and enjoyable. As a consequence, it appears subjects were willing to spend more time at a task.