Design
Interactive is a winner in the new Innovation category of
the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge with ADAPT-MP
suite of games.
Conceived for upper limb amputees, the Serious Games aim to
improve users’ skills in performing the muscle activations necessary to control
a myoelectric prosthesis.
Utilizing a mobile application with engaging games and mobile EMG to
train myoelectric prosthesis users, ADAPT-MP
represents a significant innovation in pre-prosthetic training, providing a fun
training experience and immediate feedback to amputees and care providers on
training progress during the period before the prosthesis is available.
According to the developers, “training to use a myoelectric prosthesis
involves significant cortical plasticity and learning how to consciously
control muscle contraction, level of activation, and isolation through
repetitive exercises. The need to concentrate and continuously react during
training is expected to decrease with use, but often takes amputees many
months. As a consequence, many users abandon the prosthesis before mastery is
achieved.”
Design Interactive has
introduced a significant innovation in pre-prosthetic training for Myoelectric
Prosthesis (MP) users through a highly engaging set of games that can
potentially replace the current approach and decrease the likelihood of
abandonment of the prosthetic, thus meeting creators’ higher aspirations of
improving quality of life and work/social reintegration.
ADAPT-MP Concept
ADAPT-MP consists of three
components: a mobile patient platform with integrated physiological sensor and
games suite; a compliant web-based provider portal; and a remote, secure server
for data communication and storage. Games were developed in Unity and are
currently compatible with the Android operating system.
Another merit of ADAPT-MP is that each game targets a different
aspect of muscle activation and increases in difficulty as the user progresses,
personalizing the experience.
Suite of
Games Sample
Correct
muscle activations are associated with stopping volcanic boulders from hitting
the ground in Volcanic Crush
Appropriate
dinosaur movements (jump, slide, sprint, bash) in Dino Sprint
Last but not least, the recording of performance data that can be made
available to care providers to assess patient progress is another great feature
of the game.
ADAPT-MP is
currently undergoing controlled clinical trialing compared to standard
pre-prosthetic training.