Games Applied to Children with Motor Impairment using the Myo Wearable Device

Abstract The characteristic of immersion, involvement and motivation have made serious games an important tool to be used in the medical field. However, there are people that, having some sort of physical disability, are not able to, or do not feel motivated to play. This work presents a strategy to support human- computer interactions for children with a disability in their upper limbs through a wearable device, with the objective of improving access to digital games for the target audience. For the development of this work, the wearable device Myo was used to control a puzzle game as a means of providing the interaction between the individual and the game. In this context, the game is controlled with the movement of the user's upper limb that presents the disability, through the Myo device. For the validation of this research, the game developed was made available for individuals presenting a disability in the upper limbs, from an age range between five and fifteen years old, of the Association of Assistance to the Disabled Child (AACD). Soon, it was noticed that the participants of the research soon could play while utilizing the deficient limb with Myo's support and felt more motivated to play. On the long run, it is expected to contribute to the motivation of patients through technological innovation, so that the process of body consciousness is made more interactive.

摘要：沉浸式体验、高参与度与强动机性的特性，使得严肃游戏成为医疗领域的重要应用工具。然而，部分存在肢体残疾的人群无法正常操作游戏，或对游戏缺乏参与动机。本研究提出一种基于可穿戴设备的交互方案，用于辅助上肢残疾儿童完成人机交互，旨在提升目标群体接触数字游戏的可行性。本研究采用Myo可穿戴设备，将其作为个体与游戏的交互媒介，用于操控一款益智类游戏。在此方案中，用户可通过Myo设备，借助存在功能障碍的上肢动作完成游戏操控。为完成本研究的验证工作，我们将开发的游戏提供给来自儿童残障扶助协会（Association of Assistance to the Disabled Child，AACD）、年龄介于5至15岁的上肢残疾个体。后续观测发现，在Myo设备的辅助下，研究参与者可使用自身存在功能障碍的上肢进行游戏，且参与游戏的动机显著提升。从长期来看，本研究有望通过技术创新提升患者的参与动机，使身体意识的养成过程更具交互性。