VRGrip: Developing a Grip Strength Training Platform Integrating a Wireless E-Textile Forearm Band with an Adaptive 3D VR Game Environment

Neurodegenerative disease is a growing global problem. Many of these diseases such as Parkinson's disease can cause grip strength weakness. In this work, we focused on developing an e-textile based EMG acquisition system interfaced with an adaptive VR game engine for detecting hand squeeze actions. We prototyped and performed preliminary tests on a grip detection system consisting of: 1) an e-textile forearm band (E-band), 2) a portable data acquisition module (DAM), and 3) an adaptive 3D VR game engine. Digital health solutions such as our VRGrip system widen the scope of in-home rehabilitation and assessment, and we aimed to make the first step in creating a system for grip strength rehabilitation. To validate our concept, we performed preliminary tests. These tests revealed that the Bluetooth communication protocol between DAM and the game engine was reliable, that the adaptive game engine successfully tailors the game's difficulty level to the user's performance, and that the system was reliable at detecting hand squeezes (F=0.96).