Gestural Interfaces: Are Wii having Fun in Physical Therapy?

Gestural interfaces were in their infancy not even a decade ago and they have really come a long way very recently.  About ten years ago when I was at NASA-GSFC, I attended a presentation by Joe Paradiso from MIT on his Gesture Wall.  I think Jeff Han’s presentation at TED in 2006 really grabbed some attention in terms of interacting with systems with a gestural interface.

The iPhone may have an abysmal battery life, but it is the first widespread consumer device to really have a gestural interface with its touchscreen.  Now the BlackBerry Storm and other phones are implementing the same kind of touchscreen technology. Like the iPhone and the iPod Touch, the Wii is a good example game system that uses a gestural interface.  I recently came across an innovative use for the Wii game system:

Nintendo Wii as Therapeutic Tool
Jon Udell’s Interviews with Innovators
20 minutes, 9.4mb, recorded 2008-12-15
Topics: Health and Medicine Science and Technology (general)

Although host Jon Udell isn’t an avid gamer, and neither is his wife Luann, he was intrigued when she came home from a physical therapy session raving about the Nintendo Wii. In this episode Luann talks about how the Wii, the Balance Board, and the Wii Fit application are helping her retrain the proprioceptors in her legs. Then we’ll hear from Anna Domyancic who, with Darren Gerber, runs Keene Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. Like other physical therapists, they’re finding that the Wii can be a valuable therapeutic tool.

A number of research articles published in the past year show that the Wii game system has been used by many in physical therapy. Some are calling the use of this system in physical therapy ‘wiihabilitation’.

From having my own Wii and just using it out of the box, it’s amazing how sensitive the controllers are and the haptic feedback that some of the games provide to the game controllers.  It’s also amazing how immersive the games can be with having the Wii hooked up to an LCD projector when playing Metroid.

O’Reilly just published a new book on Designing Gestural Interfaces:

Designing Gestural Interfaces, 1st Edition
by Dan Saffer
Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Pub Date: December 3, 2008
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51839-4
Pages: 272

Designing Gestural Interfaces provides you with essential information about kinesiology, sensors, ergonomics, physical computing, touchscreen technology, and new interface patterns — all you need to know to augment your existing skills in “traditional” web design, software, or product development. Packed with informative illustrations and photos, this book helps you: Get an overview of technologies surrounding touchscreens and interactive environments. Learn the process of designing gestural interfaces, from documentation to prototyping to communicating to the audience what the product does Examine current patterns and trends in touchscreen and gestural design Learn about the techniques used by practicing designers and developers today See how other designers have solved interface challenges in the past Look at future trends in this rapidly evolving field.

In the movie Minority Report, it seems that gestural interfaces are science fiction.  However, science fiction has quickly become science fact with technological innovations and a number of social and market forces at play.  Going from conventional keyboard and mouse to gestural and interactive environments., there are so many future possibilities in terms of how we design and develop these new interfaces.