Wenk Nicolas, Penalver-Andres Joaquin, Palma Rara, Buetler Karin A, Muri Rene, Nef Tobias, Marchal-Crespo Laura
IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot. 2019 Jun;2019:1037-1042. doi: 10.1109/ICORR.2019.8779366.
There is increasing interest in using virtual reality (VR) in robotic neurorehabilitation. However, the use of conventional VR displays (i.e., computer screens), implies several transformations between the real movements in 3D and their 2D virtual representations that might negatively impact the rehabilitation interventions. In this study, we compared the impact on movement quality and cognitive load of novel vs. standard visualization technologies: i) Immersive VR (IVR) head-mounted display (HMD), ii) Augmented reality (AR) HMD, and iii) Computer screen. Twenty healthy participants performed simultaneously a motor and a cognitive task. Goal-oriented reaching movements were recorded using an HTC Vive controller. The cognitive load was assessed by the accuracy on a simultaneous counting task.The movement quality improved when visualizing the movements in IVR, compared to the computer screen. These improvements were more evident for locations that required movements in several dimensions. We found a trend to higher movement quality in AR than Screen, but worse than IVR. No significant difference was observed between modalities for the cognitive load. These results provide encouraging evidence that VR interventions using HMDs might be more suited for reaching tasks in several dimensions than a computer screen. Technical limitations might still limit the beneficial effects of AR, both in movement quality and cognitive load.
在机器人神经康复中使用虚拟现实（VR）的兴趣日益浓厚。然而，使用传统的VR显示器（即电脑屏幕）意味着在3D真实运动及其2D虚拟表示之间存在多种转换，这可能会对康复干预产生负面影响。在本研究中，我们比较了新型与标准可视化技术对运动质量和认知负荷的影响：i）沉浸式VR（IVR）头戴式显示器（HMD），ii）增强现实（AR）HMD，以及iii）电脑屏幕。20名健康参与者同时执行一项运动任务和一项认知任务。使用HTC Vive控制器记录目标导向的伸手动作。通过同时进行的计数任务的准确性来评估认知负荷。与电脑屏幕相比，在IVR中可视化运动时，运动质量有所提高。对于需要在多个维度上运动的位置，这些改善更为明显。我们发现AR中的运动质量有高于屏幕的趋势，但比IVR差。在认知负荷方面，各模式之间未观察到显著差异。这些结果提供了令人鼓舞的证据，表明使用HMD的VR干预可能比电脑屏幕更适合于多个维度的伸手任务。技术限制可能仍然会限制AR在运动质量和认知负荷方面的有益效果。
