Bridging Health Sciences and Engineering Through the Interdisciplinary Development of a Proof-of-Concept Wireless Telerehabilitation Prototype: A Preliminary Laboratory and Usability Study

Background: Wearable sensing and local wireless communication architectures offer significant potential for accessible rehabilitation technologies. The objective of this exploratory study was to design, implement, and describe an interdisciplinary, wireless inertial sensing platform—the Virtual Therapist Platform (VTP)—for real-time postural monitoring and exergame-based rehabilitation in a controlled laboratory setting. Methods: A laboratory proof-of-concept evaluation was conducted across three integrated domains: (1) technical characterisation of the dual-node ESP-NOW architecture (30-min test at 50 packets/s per node via an ESP32-C6 gateway) for real-time trunk tracking; (2) formative usability and acceptability assessment of the VTP interface across two independent cohorts of fourth-year Physiotherapy students (n=25 per cohort; 2024 and 2025) using a standardized protocol; and (3) a descriptive mapping of the four-phase interdisciplinary development process integrating Physiotherapy and Mechatronics Engineering inputs. Results: The two-node ESP-NOW test demonstrated high communication performance (99.68% packet delivery ratio (PDR), 8.03 ms mean latency, 1.98 ms jitter, and 99.68 ± 0.52 packets/s throughput). Subjective usability increased from a median score of 85.0 (IQR: 80.0–92.5) in 2024 to 100.0 (IQR: 100.0–100.0) in 2025. Conclusions: The dual-node architecture provided reliable local ESP-NOW packet transmission, while subjective evaluations demonstrated high system usability and acceptability. This interdisciplinary baseline lays the groundwork for future evaluations in clinical environments.