IMIC

Application-focused medical research

In an interdisciplinary project setting, iMiC (Innovative Movement Therapy in Childhood), as a translational research project has the objective of further developing and refining movement therapies for children with motor impairments. A special focus was placed on virtual therapy systems for the upper and lower limbs. Building on the research results from preceding projects, the system was progressively extended and optimized for children with a range of different trauma injuries. While the clinical research efforts concentrated on the evaluation and efficacy of the interventions, the ZHdK research team considered issues of the specific design of the virtual systems: How might it be possible to design and implement gaming worlds appropriate for these users’ needs that could also be adapted to the various therapeutic systems along modular lines?

More than the sum of its parts

A combination of motor and cognitive therapy dimensions is thought to have major potential with regard to the efficiency and success of rehabilitation of neurologically based motor disturbances. Instead of interminable, constantly repeated exercises, iMiC was aimed at creating a varied and stimulating setting that would allow the use of multiple therapeutic systems that could be operated in combination. The linkage of these systems is replicated in gaming environments, in which the automated therapy devices also function as a game.

Multimodal approach

One of the technological requirements for the use of multiple therapy devices is the provision of a software standard for the exchange of game-related information. Generating such a standard was the first major milestone of the project running through to 2015. Since that time, the knowledge generation process has been boosted with a reflection-based, and open design practice. The requirements analysis was focused on participation in the therapy situation, and on capturing the requirements, needs and wishes of the various user groups. An iterative process was then followed to firm up a range of game concepts, as the basis for developing the optimum solution for patients and a modular therapy concept.

The project received funding support from Fondation Gaydoul and the Mäxi Stiftung foundation.

Project page:

https://www.zhdk.ch; www.kispi.uzh.ch; http://rehabconnex.zhdk.ch

Project leader:

Prof. Ulrich Götz

Team:

Prof. Ulrich Götz; René Bauer; Ralf Mauerhofer; Mischa Geiser; Daniel Hug; Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken

Cooperation partners:

iMiC is a joint development with Zurich Children’s Hospital (Kinderspital Zürich), the Sensory-Motor System Lab of ETH Zurich, and the Rehabilitation Engineering Lab, the Institute of Neuroinformatics of ETH und the University of Zurich.

Status:

completed (07/2010 – 06/2015)

Publications:

Martin-Niedecken, A.L., Bauer, R., Mauerhofer, R. & Götz, U. (2015). RehabConnex - A Middleware for the Flexible Connection of Multimodal Game Applications with Input Devices used in Movement Therapy and Physical Exercising. In Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG), pp. 496-502, IEEE Xplore Digital Library. ISBN 978-1-4799-8621-7 (Print). DOI 10.1109/CIG.2015.7317671.

Martin, A.L., Götz, U. & Bauer, R. (2014). "IMIC - Innovative Movement Therapies in Childhood". In Neurologie & Rehabilitation, Dettmers, C., Schönle, P.W., Weiller, C. (Eds.) and Wiemeyer, J. (Guest Ed.), 20th ed., vol. 4, pp. 215-225, Hippocampus: Bad Honnef. ISSN 0947-2177 (Print) 1869-7003 (Online).

Martin, A.L., Götz, U. & Bauer, R. (2014). Development of Task-specific RehabGame Settings for Robot-assisted Pediatric Movement Therapies. In Proceedings of the 7th IEEE Consumer Electronics Society Games Media Entertainment Conference (GEM), pp. 1-4, IEEE Xplore Digital Library. ISBN 978-1-4799-7545-7 (Print). DOI 10.1109/GEM.2014.7048090.