Neuro-physical rehabilitation by means of novel touch technologies.

In this work, we present the results of collaboration between an engineering department and a rehabilitation hospital in using innovative touch interfaces properly designed for both neurocognitive and physical rehabilitation. The novel touch interface also measures force, thereby enabling dexterity training through 'direct' manipulation of virtual objects in 3D. Two dimensions are recorded via touch screen, the third by the force channel.

Force and touch make video games 'serious' for dexterity rehabilitation.

Computerized interfaces are able to represent 3D immersive simulations. Most of them make use of joystick, mouse, gloves, or grasp pressure transducers. Those have the drawback of 'filtering' the user interaction and/or de-locate the touch with respect to the visual stimulus.