Enhancing the User"s Experience in an Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space

The major goal of this project is to develop an integrated system for enhancing a war fighter"s experience in an Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space. The concept demonstration delivered to the sponsor at the conclusion of this Phase-I will show the sponsor that we have developed techniques for innovatively connecting COTS products and advanced behavior recognition techniques to enable non-verbal communication, to advance immersion into the environment, and to support effective interaction the physical therapist. A feasibility study will be delivered. These techniques will then be refined and integrated into a pre-production prototype system in Phase-II. During the Phase I effort we will: (1) Identify the appropriate technology to improve communications in the world through the use of COTS sensing systems such as the Kinect, speech recognition software, and gesture recognition software. (2) Identify the appropriate technology to allow for a more immersive experience. (3) Identify the appropriate technology to allow for Physical Therapist and Patient interaction in the virtual world. (4) Determine technical feasibility of the proposed technology through a vertical slice demonstration of the system during the Phase I effort. (5) Develop an initial concept design and determine/model key elements.