VirtualRehabART4Health
VR designed for awe and rehab.
The experience combines virtual art, technology, and rehabilitation.
When we, in reality, are contained to our home, nursing home, or hospital room. We can in the virtual reality experience wonder in new, calming worlds.
A remarkable intersection between art, pain relief, and exercise.
some voices in betatesting:
wow! So beautiful and peaceful! I want to use this as a relaxing break in my computer work!
I love the small figures in the sea landscape and the growing flowers in the yoga session.
So beautiful music and peaceful surroundings! The voice of the psyiotherapist is so relaxing!
So nice to walk around, looking for growing flowers and make the waterdrops water the landscape.
I forgot my pain and that I am in a boring institution! thank you! so full of fantasy and awe!
Within the VR-headset, the player is surrounded by calming forests and oceanscapes, sounds of nature, and classical music.
The player can also perform yoga and physiotherapy exercises with a personal, virtual trainer.
By orienteering with a map in a 3D environment, the player can practice and develop their cognition.
The exercises and movements have been designed by professional yoga instructors and physiotherapists that work with rehabilitation.
Virtual Rehab
ART4Health
VR design Åsa Egnér
Programming Johnny Nyman, Softwarehut Polen
Modelling Carolina Ask, Evermotion, Polen
Music Satie, Grieg, Debussy, Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Schumann.
Pianist Jonathan Sersam Sound Hans Nilsson och Joar Egnér Löfberg
Motion Capture HumLabb, Lunds Universitet Video David Blomquist
Yoga- and voice instruction Michaela Tellenmark
Physiotherapy Ulrika Björck, Caroline Dahlberg
Voice instruction physiotherapy Oliver Lindman
Dancer Osama Al Shihabi Character modelling Peter Flygenring Toft
Business advisor Anne-Sofie Frey.
Created with support from Vinnova Innovation.
Credits: Theis Madsen MD&CEO CopenRealityApS.
Virtual Rehab has been further developed from a prototype called “Virtual Recovery”.
The basic idea and prototype were developed in a collaborative project between VR designer Åsa Egnér, Kreativitetsbanken
and Dr Theis Madsen, CopenReality ApS. The prototype was funded by Cross4Health.
©VirtualRehabART4Health
MENU
In the game’s menu the player can choose
options for language, environment, exercises,
standing or sitting, and easy or more advanced difficulty. Easy difficulty excludes
movements above shoulder height.
EXPLORATION:
Yoga, Physiotherapy
The player can explore visual and calming
worlds at their own pace, either by sitting
or standing. By using the controller, the
player moves through ocean- and forest
environments, and makes their way to either
a yoga- or physio-therapy exercise with
different difficulty levels.
3D Orienteering
VR enables a unique opportunity to train 3D
orienteering via a map. This may develop the
coordination between mind and body, since
the player learns to navigate to different
targets.
Yoga och Physiotherapy
Through paintings, the player enters either
an oceanscape or a redwood forest. They are
then automatically transported to a previously chosen yoga- or physiotherapy session.
Rewards
Besides relaxation, exploration, and exercise,
the player is rewarded with for instance growing flowers and trees, northern lights, and
water drops. These rewards and the beautiful
environments and sounds can create awe and
motivate the player to return to the game and
the exercise.
Personal Trainer
The player exercises with other 3D-characters, which simulates a group session with a
virtual instructor.
Research
There are many scientific reports about the
advantages of VR. In virtual reality, the brain
is ”tricked” into believing that it is in a new
location. VR distracts from pain, and can
relieve stress and anxiety.
Technology
All characters in the game are created through
motion capture technology in co-operation
with the university of Lund’s Humlabb.
To play Virtual Rehab, you need:
● a VR headset with the associated
controller for Oculus rift or HTC Vive.
● a copy of the game which will be available on digital platforms such as Steam.
● a computer that meets the system
requirements for VR.
MENU:
FOREST/GARDEN
SWEDISH/ENGLISH
FOREST – explore, physiotherapy
● Press and release the thumbstick to
move forward, choose directions with
the pointer.
● Explore nature, and water the environment with dew drops along the way.
● Training: the instructor begins the
exercise when the player enters the
ring of stones.
● Imitate the instructor’s movements.
4 different exercise locations.
● After the training session: hit
dewdrops with the front trigger,
so that trees grow.
Orienteering forest
● Press and release the thumbstick to
move forward, choose directions with
the pointer.
● Orienteering: open the map with the
front trigger and navigate toward the
goal.
● At the goal, move potential rocks with
the side button, aim at the dewdrop.
● 3 orienteering goals appear on the
map per round.
Physiotherapy, single
● In the menu, choose options for
standing, sitting, and easy or
advanced difficulty.
● Travel through a painting to the
exercise.
● Aim at the dewdrops with the front
trigger after a finished session of
physiotherapy.
● Enjoy growing trees and a beautiful
night sky that finishes the session.
OCEAN – explore, yoga
● Press, and release, the thumbstick to
move forward, aim with the pointer.
● Walk around in nature, watch flowers
and water the environment with
dewdrops.
● Yoga: when the player enters the ring
of stones, the instructor begins the
exercise.
● Imitate the instructor’s movements.
Put down the hand controller.
● The flowers grow during the yoga
movements. 4 different exercise
locations.
Orienteering ocean
● Press and release the thumbstick to
move forward, aim with the pointer.
● Orienteering: open the map with the
front trigger and navigate toward
the goal.
● At the goal, move rocks with the side
button, aim at dewdrops so that
flowers grow.
● On the map a new goal appears which
the player can find, three goals per
round.
Yoga, separate
● In the menu, choose standing, sitting,
easy or advanced difficulty.
● Travel through a painting to the yoga
exercise. The controller can be excluded.
● Imitate the instructor’s movements.
● Enjoy growing trees and a starry night
sky that concludes the round.
Virtual Rehab
ART4Health
Steam User 4
I like the style of this game. Maybe I'm biased because I like impressionist art and the yoga ocean remind me of that! There is no stress and you can take your time enjoy the scenery.
It is clearly made for people that need relaxation and/or rehabilitation since the game actually have real physio exercises. A nice idea from a small team of developers.
Steam User 2
I really enjoyed the universe this game brought me to. It consists of a beautiful world filled with dazzling colours and quirky creatures which creates a feeling of otherworldliness. The music option should always be ON as the classical pieces really goes well with this mystical world. The yoga and physiotherapy classes are easy to follow along with, although a bit low intensity - which is understandable as it is meant for rehab. Overall a very relaxing and pretty game!
Steam User 3
a beautiful game . It is like walking in a painting. I love the growing flowers while doing yoga and the small people dancing and taking care of the garden. It fits perfect together with the classical pianomusic., Satie and others. The forest is also beautiful and the physioterapy quite fun to do but my favorite is the seaworld . wow.
Steam User 7
Experienced on the Oculus Quest 2
You can view my review & gameplay here:
This is not what I would call a great exercise app for VR. It's definitely missing a lot of the bells and whistles you might expect from a top tier workout program for VR. The visuals aren't the best. The interactions are very basic. The UI looks pretty bad.
However, it's very cheap and it gets the job done, especially if you need rehab exercises / light workouts. This also works as just a meditative experience for VR. There are 2 maps: the forest and the garden. In my opinion, the garden looks a whole lot better than the forest.
The main experience is doing guided exercises, whether seated or standing. These exercises also have a focus on breathing and meditating. The garden has yoga exercises. You can also choose easier difficulty which involves not moving arms above shoulder height. I enjoyed the relaxing workout.
The app is running on the Unity Engine. On my RTX 3080, I was getting about 45 frames per second on the forest map and on the garden map I was getting 90 frames per second. There is teleport only, there is no smooth or snap turning. The teleportation is pretty bad, but fortunately, you don't need to teleport during the actual exercise routines.
I enjoyed this app for what is was going for. I would say at the very least it is competent. You honestly can't expect much at this budget price of $3 USD. I think you're getting your money's worth as long as you're okay with a light workout program that's missing the polish you might otherwise expect.
Rate 6/10.
Please note: I received a free Steam key through the Steam Curator Connect program. You can join my Steam Curator group here: