The application CULT (Cognitive Upper Limb Trainer) has been developed by the staff members working at Casa Paganini – InfoMus Research Centre and at the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation – Gaslini Children’s Hospital within the project ARIEL.

This exergame aims at supporting children followed by dr. Paolo Moretti M.D.’s team in the recovery of upper limbs functions such as strength, movement control, bilateral integration and coordination. For this purpose, DIBRIS Engineers and Gaslini Therapists joined in order to design Motion Capture-based games able to support motivation, a key element in every rehabilitation program: indeed, treatments require a high effort to keep adherence to therapeutic protocol, particularly because of their repetitiveness.

Children interact with the application with full body movement in game settings with a high degree of parameters customization according to the patient’s skills and needs.

While the child watches virtual objects moving to the bottom of the screen, he is expected to use his arms, elbows or head – depending on the type and degree of his impairment – in order to reach them before they fall down. While objects move, the patient is involved in the task thanks to sight, movements and sound: a custom music is played, enhancing the sense of immersion in the system and supplying further feedback in the task. The music volume, indeed, decreases while objects get closer to the bottom.

The system gives the possibility to add cognitive tasks in order to complement physical therapy: the child might be required to select objects that better suit a proposed background or those of a particular color or dimension. This kind of activity aims at fostering processes such as memory, attention and executive functions, creating a stimulating and reach exercise environment.