Using a human-shaped input device for telerehabilitation

There are several ways to instruct rehabilitation poses to patients in a remote area, such as phone calls using voice and video messaging using images. However, current methods do not allow the therapists to correct the patient's poses intuitively. Moreover, the patients have no way to know whether the pose they are making is correct or not. In this study, we propose a method for instructing rehabilitation poses to a person in a remote area using a human-shaped input device called QUMARION. The therapist uses QUMARION to instruct a pose, while Kinect tracks the patient's motion. By comparing the data acquired by both devices, the system evaluates the patient's pose and checks whether the patient is making the pose as instructed by the therapist. The result is processed and shown on both the therapist's and the patient's displays in real time. We conducted an experiment that measured how precisely poses can be instructed through our system. The results showed that our system enables easy and effective instructions.