My name is Julia Klinkert and I am currently graduating from the Interaction Technology master’s program at the University of Twente. As an undergraduate, I studied Artificial Intelligence in Utrecht, however, I was more interested in the impact technology can have on people’s lives. This is what my current master’s provided the space for, which allowed me to work with many different types of technology such as brain-computer interfaces and virtual reality.
For my master thesis I was looking for a company that uses technology for user-centered social purposes, this is how I ended up at HoloMoves. I may therefore work at HoloMoves for just over six months to conduct my graduate research toward the use of mixed reality in CVA rehabilitation.
In the world of technology, innovation is key, which means new products are constantly coming onto the market, and so is the world of Mixed Reality (MR). Therefore, in order to provide the best experience to customers, it is also important for HoloMoves to look at the latest MR developments and what features they offer. In October 2022, the Meta company released their newest MR glasses, the Meta Quest Pro.
These glasses use a different technique to combine holograms and the real world compared to the MR glasses currently used by HoloMoves, the HoloLens 2. This raised the question of what the possibilities were for this system when used during rehabilitation.
From my master’s degree, I specialize in investigating possible applications and benefits of a technology with an eye for the user. To answer HoloMoves’ question, the purpose of my thesis is to investigate how different MR systems, optical see-through (Microsoft HoloLens 2) and video see-through (Meta Quest Pro), affect the experience of motor rehabilitation of CVA patients from the patient and caregiver perspective.
I started with an in-depth literature review to look at what the differences of the two systems are and how they could possibly affect the rehabilitation experience. The next step is to engage with CVA patients and caregivers to identify their interests. Based on this and the literature review, a list of potentially relevant components of MR systems will be compiled, each of which will be tested individually.
Ultimately, this will be used as input to create a new design of the MR experience with the Quest Pro which is aimed at harnessing the potential of the glasses. This experience will be compared to the experience on the HoloLens 2 and the Quest Pro both without modifications. A recommendation will be drawn up from the results as to when which system can best be used during motor rehabilitation of CVA patients, which may be extended to other forms of rehabilitation.
In doing so, I hope to contribute to improving the user experience of patients in the rehabilitation process.
