The University of Malta is involved in a €4 million Horizon 2020 project, titled "Personalised Recovery Through A Multi-User Environment: Virtual Reality For Rehabilitation" (PRIME-VR2).
This Research Innovation Action proposal aims at using VR-based serious gaming and an innovative controller in order to improve the rehabilitation of the motor function of the arm, hands and fingers. The main idea behind the project is that instead of using an off-the-shelf controller, one can use a controller which is purposely designed according to the person’s needs for rehabilitation purposes.
The principal role of UM in this project is to conduct a number of tests to ensure that the product meets its intended function during the therapy. For this purpose, a special jig will be designed and fabricated to simulate how the controller will be used in practice. UM has also the role to suggest how the controller can be improved from a therapeutic point of view and how it can be fabricated with the least possible costs, in order to increase its competitiveness on the market.
The team, led by Prof. Ing. Philip Farrugia, from the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (DIME), Faculty of Engineering, includes Dr Ing. Pierre Vella, Ing. Emanuel Balzan and Mr Edward Abela from DIME, Dr Ing. Glenn Cassar from the Department of Metallurgy and Material Engineering and Dr Maria Victoria Gauci from the Department of Disability Studies, Faculty for Social Wellbeing.
More information can be found on the PRIME-VR2 project website.