RePlay by winx club <3

Inspiration

Through research, we found patient adherence to rehabilitation programs is often reported to be <35%. Common barriers to exercise therapy in youth include boredom and an overall lack of enjoyment. Our objective in creating RePlay was to make physical rehabilitation a fun challenge for pediatric patients, as opposed to an unmotivating chore.

What it does

Our RePlay program allows the patient to progress in a game we created by reaching specific EMG (electromyography) thresholds. The greater the muscle contraction, the more the patient can progress in the game. An example of this can look like: a patient recovering from a wrist injury can progress in the game with increased wrist flexion.

How we built it

First, we got the data and readings of muscle electrical activity from the BioAMP kit using the Arduino kit. The data was then integrated with our game made with PyGame. This allows the user to make their character jump using the EMG data from the BioAMP kit. The user can move the character left and right with the keys. For visuals of the game, the characters and the backgrounds were built through Pixel Art.

Challenges we ran into

With the help of an external perspective, we realized our initial idea, which still had the purpose of facilitating rehabilitation, could not measure up to current competitors in the market. This led us to brainstorm our current idea, which we feel aligns more with our root cause, and is something more creative and unique.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We had to pivot our idea after the hackathon had already begun. We are proud that we were able to come up with a viable idea, which we finished and are able to present.

What we learned

We learned to integrate hardware to translate muscle contractions to interactive tasks. We learned to quickly pivot our idea under time pressures. We learned to collaborate and work together as a team to split roles most efficiently, despite our diverse backgrounds.

What's next for RePlay

Conducting our own clinical study to measure the positive outcomes that come out of gamifying the rehabilitation process for youth and its effects on adherence and motivation.