Background

The VirtualGym system is designed to be used by older adults, residing in facility care or in their own homes, who have mobility or transportation restrictions that prevent them from participating in exercise traditional groups.

VirtualGym

Exercise positively affects physical (e.g., gait, balance, stability) and mental health and has been shown to provide extensive benefits for older adults, including improved balance and strength. There are, however, several barriers to seniors’ participation in group-exercise activities, including scarcity of programs tailored for seniors and accessibility and transportation challenges.

Adopting a serious-games methodology, we developed a Kinect-based platform, on which we are developing games that guide older adults through (potentially personalized) exercise regimens postures. The platform supports the specification of exercises as sequences of postures and movements, in a way that enables demonstration by a coach avatar, and timely and accurate feedback, rewarding the users when they perform well and providing visual cues on they might improve.