GAMIFICATION OF REHABILITATION

December 2022

During my third Master's semester, I did a group research project at AKINA AG, a rehabilitation technology company that aims to tackle the problem of people not adhering to their therapy plans through the development of a digital application that incorporates artificial intelligence-based motion analysis, and gamification.

Due to signing a confidentiality agreement, I cannot provide any detailed report but will give you a short insight into the project.

Abstract

People doing therapy exercises at home are facing a lack of guidance and lack of motivation. AKINA AG solves that with a digital application by using a motion analysis AI and gamification. The goal is to use exercises in order to control games instead of using a controller. The user can select their desired games from the highly accessible XBOX web-based cloud service. Due to its vast library, further help is needed to support the user with picking the right game and the right exercise-button mapping with respect to the therapy plan. 

In our research project, we developed an algorithm that ensures that the total number of repetitions done during gaming is as close as possible to the target number on the therapy plan while the user’s enjoyment is as large as possible. In the end, the algorithm outputs a game, and assignment of buttons and exercises considering all constraints.

The developed algorithm was later put to a test by conducting a pilot study. Different metrics were used to show that the difference between the actual number and the recommended number of exercises was lower using the algorithm than using random mapping. Furthermore, the level of intrinsic motivation was assessed.