Immersive Virtual Reality for the Cognitive Rehabilitation of Stroke Survivors.

We present the results of a double-blind phase 2b randomized control trial that used a custom built virtual reality environment for the cognitive rehabilitation of stroke survivors. A stroke causes damage to the brain and problem solving, memory and task sequencing are commonly affected. The brain can recover to some extent, however, and stroke patients have to relearn how to carry out activities of daily living. We have created an application called VIRTUE to enable such activities to be practiced using immersive virtual reality. Gamification techniques enhance the motivation of patients such as by making the level of difficulty of a task increase over time. The design and implementation of VIRTUE is described together with the results of the trial conducted within the Stroke Unit of a large hospital. We report on the safety and acceptability of VIRTUE. We have also observed particular benefits of VR treatment for stroke survivors that experienced more severe cognitive impairment, and an encouraging reduction in time spent in the hospital for all patients that received the VR treatment.

Depth from structured defocus that is independent of the object reflectivity function.

Depth from defocus using structured light is a useful optical metrology technique since the camera and projector can be placed on the same optical axis and it can cope with depth discontinuities. However, the technique can suffer from large errors when used on surfaces with differing reflective properties. This paper demonstrates a method for overcoming this problem.