Francesco Bottino

Dr. Francesco Bottino

Electrical, Computer, Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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30 October 2026 in Robotics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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FBFrancesco Bottino
Francesco Bottino
Nicola GiuliettiNicola Giulietti
Nicola Giulietti
CSCarol Sergenti
Carol Sergenti
GMGiuseppe Mangano
Giuseppe Mangano
Marco CarnevaleMarco Carnevale
Marco Carnevale
Hermes GibertiHermes Giberti
Hermes Giberti
Many neurological conditions, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and mild cognitive impairment, compromise cognitive and motor functions and may threaten autonomy in complex daily activities. Rehabilitation can therefore benefit from tasks that simultaneously engage these domains. Driving is a representative example, as it combines continuous motor control, visual processing, attention, decision making, and reaction to unexpected events. Driving simulators can provide a controlled and repeatable environment in which these cognitive and motor functions can be jointly trained, while also supporting the assessment and recovery of driving-related abilities when return to driving is clinically relevant. However, rehabilitation-oriented simulators often provide limited multisensory feedback compared with professional systems, whose size, cost, and complexity limit their transfer to clinical settings. This study presents a compact, three-degree-of-freedom dynamic driving simulator developed for rehabilitation-oriented exergames with adjustable difficulty and measurable in-game metrics. It combines a parallel motion platform, haptic steering, instrumented pedals, and a modular software architecture based on a multibody simulation engine and a graphics engine, with automated session reports. Four exergames were evaluated in 62 healthy licensed adults aged 19–30 years, with each exergame scheduled twice. Traffic Mode was assessed in a separate data-collection campaign involving 38 participants, with partial participant overlap between campaigns. Slalom showed a marked ceiling effect, whereas Linekeeping showed a graded distribution of performance. Reaction Test outcomes varied widely between participants and were strongly associated with approach speed. Participant rank order was moderately preserved across executions. The results characterize the proposed measures in a homogeneous healthy population and identify the most informative metrics and the task configurations requiring refinement. Their suitability for longitudinal monitoring in patients remains to be established.