This paper presents a conceptual framework for the development of serious games aimed at cognitive rehabilitation in older adults. Following Jabareen’s methodology, a literature review was conducted to identify concepts and theories that are relevant in this field. The resulting framework comprises the use of virtual reality, integration of physical activity, incorporation of social interaction features, adaptability of difficulty levels, and customization of game content. The interconnections between these concepts and underlying cognitive theories, such as the cognitive reserve hypothesis and the scaffolding theory of aging and cognition, are highlighted. As we are in the early stages of our research, our goal is to introduce and test novel interpretations of current knowledge within this conceptual framework. Additionally, the practical implications of the conceptual framework are discussed, including its strengths and limitations, as well as its relevance for future research and clinical practice in the field of cognitive rehabilitation. It is hoped that this framework will provide a guide for the design and implementation of effective interventions to improve cognitive health and well-being in the older adult population.

This article presents a low-cost educational platform to teach human gait instability assessment using the Lyapunov exponents. The system consists of a cellphone used to measure the acceleration or angular velocity of human body segments, a head-mounted display device, a second cellphone used to visualize the virtual environment developed in Unity3D, a device used to measure the gait speed, and a MATLAB application for data processing. The proposed platform was tested on ten healthy subjects (33.4±9.1 years) under three walking conditions: (i) in a real-world environment, (ii) in a virtual corridor, and (iii) by adding optical flow perturbations to the virtual environment. A survey conducted in the elective class Automatic Systems of Analysis and Capture of Human Gait at Universidad del Cauca, showed the usability of the proposed platform.

Introduction: in human-robot collaboration (HRC), accurately detecting the proximity of the operator is essential to ensure safety without compromising productivity. However, conventional distance sensors face a trade-off between false positives (FP), which may cause unnecessary robot stops, and false negatives (FN), which can lead to dangerous collisions.Objectives: this study aims to analyze the balance between FP and FN in proximity detection within HRC environments using a virtual reality (VR) framework. The goal is to identify optimal sensor configurations that minimize FN without excessively increasing FP.Materials and Methods: a VR-based simulation environment was developed to evaluate different parameters: detection range, sensor beam angle, and sensor placement on the robot. An ANOVA model and post-hoc tests were applied to assess the statistical impact of each variable. Additionally, a second experiment was conducted involving a human participant to observe sensor behavior under realistic human intervention conditions.Results: the analysis identified sensor configurations that significantly reduce FN without notably increasing FP. Sensor beamangle and spatial coverage were found to be key factors. Tests involving human presence revealed additional challenges due tohuman movement variability and the need to fine-tune system sensitivity.Conclusions: the findings provide key technical criteria for sensor selection and configuration in collaborative applications. Strategies to mitigate FP are proposed, including the integration of advanced technologies such as computer vision and millimeter-wave radar sensors. This work contributes to the design of safer and more efficient systems for human-robot interaction in industrial settings.

The aim of this paper is to present a comparison between the performance of virtual and conventional rehabilitation of upper limb gross motor function. To this purpose we define two rehabilitation exercises with a high degree of similarity. The virtual exercise is a computer implementation of the well known game “whack a mole” and the conventional exercise is based on a “shape-sorter” didactic toy. The population involved in the present study, composed of 20 healthy individuals was split into two groups of 10 individuals each. The evaluation of the performance for the two groups shows that the participants using the virtual environment with haptic feedback achieved a greater and more prominent progress than the group performing the conventional exercise. Another participant involved in the study is a female of 52 years with an early stage of Parkinson's disease. In her case the progress obtained with the conventional and with the virtual training sessions were quite similar. However, her progress per session was more prominent than that of the healthy group.