Virtual Reality Prosthetics Training

This prototype can register an amputee’s muscle activity and use these signals within a virtual reality (VR) environment to manipulate a virtual representation of their missing arm. Hence, they are able to perform arm movements and hand gestures using their stump. Trials have indicated that the high immersion factor of virtual reality allows for patients to easily project themselves into the virtual world and seems to enable patients to identify and use the correct muscle movements more easily than with traditional training.A pilot study of the VR system has been conducted with six trans radial amputees at the Mobility and Specialised Rehabilitation Centre at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield.  All six participants were able to use the system with the Myo to undertake grabbing tasks in VR.  Two of these participants had not previously been trained to use a Myo-electric prosthetic device, indicating the likely utility of the system in training. A thematic content analysis of post-VR interviews for the pilot study indicated that participants were positive about the system: “It were brilliant, loved it!”, “It’s very realistic. It’s really good. And I wanted to play on it all day”, and spoke about their ability to accomplish virtual grabbing: “First time I’ve ever done it like, first time I’d had one of these sort of arms”. They also recognised the potential of the system for informing prosthetic choice: “I mean I’d love to try one after seeing what I have seen there”, and for training: “I see a place for training…Definitely do”.RSLSteeper, who produces Bebionic prosthetic arms, has shown considerable interest in our project, providing details of the Bebionic design to enable us to utilise this in VR.  They have also indicated that the system shows great promise for training, in both adults and children. A symposium on the project has been accepted at the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics World Congress 2015, held in Lyon, France, in June 2015.  The symposium includes papers about the development of the VR system,  the results from the pilot study, and a paper by Ted Varley from RSLSteeper talking about the project and how it can be utilised within their business.  The discussant is Dr Ramesh Munjal, a consultant in rehabilitation medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospital who will be speaking about our collaboration and how he sees this technology being used within clinics. A paper has also been accepted for the IEEE VR 2015 conference 23-27 March 2015, held in Arles, France, in March 2015.