A fully immersive set-up for remote interaction and neurorehabilitation based on virtual body ownership

Abstract

Although telerehabilitation Systems represent one of the most technologically appealing clinical solutions fort the immediate future, they still present limitations that prevent their standardization. Here we propose an integrated approach that includes three key and novel factors: (a) fully immersive virtual environments, including virtual body representation and ownership; (b) multimodal interaction with remote people and virtual objects including haptic interaction; and (c) a physical representation of the patient at the hospital through embodiment agents (e.g., as a physical robot). The importance of secure and rapid communication betweent the nodes is also stressed and an exemple implemented solutionis described. Finally, we discuss the proposed approach with reference to the existint literatura and systems.