Virtual Reality: Recent Advances in Virtual Rehabilitation System Design (Disability Studies)

Product Description In recent years, humanity has seen a trend towards the use of virtual reality (VR) technologies for rehabilitation and disability support. This is partly driven not only by the decreasing cost and improved accessibility to technology, but also by the growth in expertise of virtual rehabilitation researchers and practitioners. The benefits of virtual reality are becoming well-established in a number of areas such as pain management, physical rehabilitation and cognitive interventions, and research studies have demonstrated benefits across a range of conditions including Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, autism and anxiety disorders. However, the diversity of hardware and software available currently has little standardisation, and patients with disabilities or health conditions often have unique interaction needs which differ from the general population. In this book, the authors explore a number of these issues, presenting recent research findings and technical developments that help them to understand the unique challenges of virtual rehabilitation design and guide future VR system development. About the Author Paul M Sharkey, HDipEE, BSc(Eng), MA, PhD, FIET, MISVR, CEng, is professor of cybernetics, member of the Cybernetics Research Group and Director of the Visualization and Interactive Technologies Centre at the School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom. Professor Sharkey's research interests lie in the fields of robotics, control systems, active vision and virtual reality, particularly in the overlapping areas within these fields relating to systems architecture and systems where delays are an inherent part of the closed loop. In 1996 he founded, and remains the Programme Chair for, the International Conference Series on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies, a biennial conference that brings together psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, clinicians, engineers and computer scientists to further understanding in the multi-disciplinary area in the field of rehabilitation and disability. He was also a founding member and is a current member of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation. In 2010, he was elected a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.