The Chair of Movement Science has developed a "Therapy Lens" app which is available as a download. The app developed for the 'HoloLens' Augmented Reality glasses supports patients in the execution of their everyday life activities. "The fact that the app is now available as a download, makes us very happy. It is a great example of how scientific research interacts directly with patients and their therapists, and how this can provide support," says Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdörfer, a Full Professor at the Chair of Movement Science. Already during the first month, the app has been installed by 58 users, and more than 250 people have visited the site.
Over 1.6 million dementia patients live in Germany, and about 300,000 new sufferers are added to this each year. A further 270,000 German citizens suffer from a stroke each year. This illness is the most frequent cause of lasting handicaps in the elderly. Individuals with dementia and apoplexy, for example, can suffer permanently from restrictions in the execution of their everyday life activities. "As a consequence of the stroke, for instance, the patients have problems in correctly accomplishing their actually relatively simple everyday life activities," explains Prof. Hermsdörfer.
App: Support in Everyday Life Activities
This is where the "Therapy Lens" app begins. The app was developed within the framework of a project supported by EIT Health together with researchers from the RWTH Aachen as well as from the enterprises IMEC, MaDoPa and CapDigitaL. It can be used together with the Microsoft "HoloLens" Augmented Reality glasses. After the download, everyday life activities can be selected - at present this involves a support in cooking tea, while further assistance is still being planned. By means of graphic information, which appears in the field of view of the user, they are trained to perform the appropriate action. "The app fades in three-dimensional objects into the field of vision, which then show the appropriate actions that are to be accomplished," explains Hermsdörfer.
The "TherapyLens" is only a first prototype. "The technology of Mixed or Augmented Reality is very new and offers a broad field of application - and a series of questions for researchers on how the technology can be used ideally for the patients," according to the professor of movement science. For example, it is important to see which feedback is best suited for the patient and how the control can be optimized for the target audience. The team is also working on only activating the glasses when errors in execution are recognized.
"I am convinced that the technology can be very helpful, since it can help individuals to remain self-sufficient after suffering from a stroke," summarizes Hermsdörfer.
To the Homepage of the Chair of Movement Science
To the Download of the Therapy Lens app
Contact
Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdörfer
Chair of Movement Science
George-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24550
Email: Joachim.Hermsdörfer(at)tum.de
Text: Fabian Kautz
Photos: Chair of Movement Science