MIDAS: Multi-Sensorial Immersive Dynamic Autonomous System for Stroke Hand Rehabilitation-Prototype Design and Exploratory User Evaluation

Many stroke survivors experience impaired function in their paretic hands. Maintaining motivation to continue hand rehabilitation exercises can be challenging. This paper presents MIDAS (Multi-Sensorial Immersive Dynamic Autonomous System), a proof-of-concept immersive system developed to explore feasibility, user experience, and self-reported responses during hand rehabilitation after stroke. MIDAS is lightweight and portable. It consists of a hand exoskeleton subsystem, a virtual reality (VR) subsystem, and an olfactory subsystem. Together, these components engage four senses during rehabilitation. A pilot study involving five people affected by stroke was conducted across three sessions. The subsystems of MIDAS were added progressively in each session. The game environment, sound effects, and scent were selected to create a multisensory experience. User experience scores were higher in Session 3 than in Session 1 for four participants and unchanged for one. Stroke Rehabilitation Motivation Scale (SRMS) scores decreased across sessions for two participants, increased between Sessions 1 and 3 for two, and remained unchanged for one. Responses to several individual questionnaire items were favorable, but the study did not establish an overall increase in rehabilitation motivation.