Simulation of Reagtife depicts normal hands used to move objects in the game and the stimulus that appears makes the hand paralyzed following normal hand movements

ITS Campus, ITS News – Rehabilitation for post-stroke patients with an active response is still rare. This is what motivated three students of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) to create Reagtife, a rehabilitation aid in the form of an augmented reality -based game for post-stroke patients.

They are Khusnul Khotimah, Dhiny Hari Utama, and Naufal Jody Manra who are students of the ITS Biomedical Engineering Department made the Reagtivity Team. This collaboration between the 2017 2018 and 2019 students succeeded in finding a breakthrough in helping post-stroke patient rehabilitation, namely combining the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) system with a simple augmented reality game.

Stroke causes patients to experience a decrease in motor function, so rehabilitation is needed whose intensity is controlled. However, currently, the circulating rehabilitation aids tend to be economically and psychologically burdensome for stroke survivors. “The augmented reality game in our breakthrough is expected to facilitate the rehabilitation of patients,” said Khusnul Khotimah, team leader.

The innovation of the Reagtivity Team from ITS, Reagtife, is a rehabilitation app for post-stroke patients in the form of an augmented reality game 

The system in Reagtife is specially designed for post-stroke hemiplegic patients or those who experience paralysis on one side of the body. Simply put, both hands will be given an electrical stimulus, then the normal hand side will move the game object that has been provided. “Normal hand movements will stimulate the hand affected by the stroke to replicate the movement,” said Khusnul.

The process of moving the object will be read in the augmented reality game on the rehabilitation device screen. The time it takes the patient to complete the game and the progress of the paralyzed hand movement will determine the evaluation of the patient’s performance during the rehabilitation process.

With Reagtife, post-stroke patients can have a new experience in the rehabilitation process. What’s more, this rehabilitation tool can maintain the patient’s level of motivation and is also relatively cheaper than similar tools on the market. “Besides that, Reagtife can be used flexibly, you don’t have to go to a therapist,” added this female student from Madiun.

A view of Reagtife, a simple augmented reality game to facilitate the rehabilitation of post-stroke patients designed by the ITS student team.

This augmented reality-based game innovation that has never existed in rehabilitation tools circulating in the community has succeeded in bringing the ITS team to achievements. Namely winning the Hope for the Smart Devices, Immersion System, and IoT Division at the Gemastik XIV 2021 event.

During preparation for the competition, Khusnul said that his team needed to ensure that these rehabilitation aids could work 100 percent. In addition, the Reagtivity Team also experienced challenges in coordinating teams from different classes and preparing video presentations. “We need an attractive video presentation that focuses on the advantages of new tools and innovations,” added Khusnul.

She hopes that the development of Reagtife can further improve the quality of the game, its detection markers, and the quality of the stimulus. “Hopefully the works developed (ITS students) can be even better and can innovate using IoT (Internet of Things),” concluded Khusnul. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Fathia Rahmanisa