Kevin Harrison

• BSc (Hons) Computer Science (Game Engineering)
• Gesture Recognition and Interactive Storytelling for Rehabilitation of Children with Impaired Dexterity

An interactive storybook is being developed for Android tablets, which encourages rehabilitation of young children suffering from upper limb mobility issues due to hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Rehabilitation is aided by repeated activity of the paretic limb. For younger children this can be boring, leading to the subject being easily distracted and impairing recovery. Presenting the hand movements as part of an entertaining game encourages further practice; the webcam image is used to recognise whether the child has successfully performed the exercises. The research requires a tool which will identify the specific rehabilitative moves required for each stage of the recovery.

 Funding Source: Newcastle University