Grigore Burdea

• PhD
• Research Director at Bright Cloud International Corp

PREFACE We wrote the 2nd edition of Virtual Reality Technology at the turn of this century. Since then, technology advancements, lower equipment cost, and an explosion in mobile and cloud gaming led to increased virtual reality (VR) use. Modern VR systems now include “all-in- one” head-mounted displays, eye trackers, cloud rendering, haptics, olfa...

This is a freely accessible Laboratory Manual meant as a resource for teaching the art of Virtual Reality programing using Unity 3D game engine. The Laboratory Manual is available on the Student Site associated with the Virtual Reality Technology 3rd edition, 2024. The Laboratory Manual includes two modules on Meta Quest HMDs. https://bcs.wiley.co...

Cognitive deficits from Alzheimer's disease (AD) or those subsequent to chemotherapy are not well addressed in the Standard of Care. The novel BrightGo system, when used at home, may provide an alternative therapy to address these Healthcare gaps. BrightGo consists of a modified Head Mounted Display, a Galvanic Skin Response sensor, a laptop, a rou...

Our current goal is to combine the advantages of medical imaging with force feedback technology to develop a virtual simulation where the user can touch soft tissue looking for a tumor beneath the surface. When it is touched, the tumor gives a different force profile, making it feel as though something is actually beneath the surface. If this capab...

This paper describes a PC-based virtual reality system that provides dextrous force feedback through the Rutgers Master II (RM II) device. The RMII “smart” interface incorporates a 386 microprocessor that handles low-level communication and control of the haptic device. This reduces communication bandwidth with the host computer and increases contr...

Touch has always been central to many aspects of medical practice. The surgeon working deep inside the abdominal cavity will feel and squeeze the liver to determine which, if any, nodule to biopsy. Palpation of a female breast is a sensitive means for detecting malignancies. Surgeons and pathologists routinely take advantage of the fact that cancer...

Purpose Design and test the usability of a novel virtual rehabilitation system for bimanual training of gravity supported arms, pronation/supination, grasp strengthening, and finger extension. Methods A robotic rehabilitation table, therapeutic game controllers, and adaptive rehabilitation games were developed. The rehabilitation table lifted/lowe...

BACKGROUND BrightArm Compact is a new rehabilitation system for upper extremities. It provides bimanual training with gradated gravity loading and mediates interactions with serious games. OBJECTIVE To design and test a robotic rehabilitation table-based virtual rehabilitation system for training upper extremities early post-stroke. METHODS A new...

Background BrightArm Compact is a new rehabilitation system for the upper extremities. It provides bimanual training with gradated gravity loading and mediates interactions with cognitively challenging serious games. Objective The aim of this study is to design and test a robotic rehabilitation table–based virtual rehabilitation system for functio...

Background: Intensive, adaptable and engaging telerehabilitation is needed to enhance recovery and maximize outcomes. Such services may be provided under early supported discharge, or later for chronic populations. A novel virtual reality game-based telerehabilitation system was designed for individuals post-stroke to enhance their bimanual upper e...

Introduction Acquired Brain Injury, whether resulting from Traumatic brain injury (TBI) or Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA), represent major health concerns for the Department of Defense and the nation. TBI has been referred to as the “signature” injury of recent U.S. military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – affecting approximately 380,000 serv...

Off-the-shelf gaming technology is designed for young, fit, and motor intact individuals. Artificial intelligence (AI) has a role in making controllers and therapeutic games adaptable to the disabled. Post-stroke rehabilitation outcomes can be enhanced by gaming technology within the home to enable engaging telerehabilitation. BrightBrainer™ Grasp...

Objectives: Investigate cognitive/motor benefits of integrative virtual reality (VR) games for a service member post sever traumatic brain injury (TBI) Design: 6-week intervention, three sessions/week, increasing duration and game difficulty (part of randomized controlled trial). Setting: Outpatient clinic, large military medical center. Participan...

This study has demonstrated the logistical feasibility of employing virtual reality technology in an open clinic setting, and the ability to provide self-guided therapy to two patients simultaneously with a single supervising clinician. However, it should be noted that providing simultaneous treatment for two patients with severe memory deficits re...

The Bright Arm Duo is a low-friction robotic rehabilitation table that adaptably trains dual arm movement and grasp through interaction with serious games. In early sub-acute phase post-stroke, [Formula: see text] experimental group received conventional rehabilitation plus 12 BrightArm Duo sessions, each inducing up to 600 arm and hand repetitions...

Background: Persistent pain in shoulder and arm following post-surgical breast cancer treatment can lead to cognitive and physical deficits. Depression is also common in breast cancer survivors. Virtual reality therapy with integrative cognitive and physical rehabilitation has not been clinically trialed for this population. The novel BrightArm Du...

Purpose: This study describes the BrightArm™ Duo virtual reality system (Bright Cloud International Corp., Highland Park, NJ) and determines its clinical benefit for maintenance of upper extremity function in nursing home residents who are chronic poststroke. Materials and methods: Participants sat at a low-friction robotic table with tilt and l...

The majority of cognitive virtual reality (VR) applications have been used for therapy, not cognitive stratification / scoring. This paper describes the BrightScreener™ and its first pilot feasibility study for evaluating elderly with various degrees of cognitive impairment. BrightScreener is a portable (laptop-based) serious-gaming system which in...

To describe the novel BrightArm Duo bimanual upper extremity (UE) rehabilitation system; to determine its technology acceptance and clinical benefit for older hemiplegic participants. The system table tilted to adjust arm gravity loading. Participants wore arm supports that sensed grasp strength and wrist position on the table. Wrist weights furthe...

Virtual reality technology has progressed substantially in recent years, with system costs diminishing. Adoption has been mixed, and sometimes without a strong body of research, which certainly poses safety risks for the patient and professional challenges for the clinician. While building a strong body of data that would lead to “best practices” w...

Purpose: To determine clinical benefits of the BrightArm Duo bimanual upper extremity (UE) rehabilitation system for maintenance of older hemiplegic residents of Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs). Methods: The system underwent a longitudinal controlled study in two SNFs. Seven chronic post-stroke participants trained for 8 weeks of increasingly int...

The present invention integrates an actuated tilting rehabilitation table, video tracking of the patient arm and opposite shoulder, a low-friction forearm support with grasping force sensing, remote data transmission and additional weighing means, one or more large displays, a computer and a plurality of simulation exercises, such as video games. T...

Purpose: BrightBrainer™ integrative cognitive rehabilitation system evaluation in an Adult Day Program by a subject with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) assumed to be of the mixed nonfluent/logopenic variant, and for determination of potential benefits. Methods: The subject was a 51-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with PPA who had attended a...

Human input in virtual environments is mostly achieved through gesture-controlled input devices. Even though many of these devices are intuitive and easy to use, they cannot provide a fluent dialogue between the user and virtual environment. Natural interfaces extract more information from human output (speech, gestures, gaze) and use "cognitive" m...

Purpose: To describe the development of BrightBrainer™ integrative cognitive rehabilitation system and determine clinical feasibility with nursing home-bound dementia patients. Method: BrightBrainer cognitive rehabilitation simulations were first played uni-manually, then bimanually. Participants sat in front of a laptop and interacted through a...

Virtual reality use in cognitive rehabilitation of advanced dementia has been sparse. Three residents of a Dementia Ward participated in a feasibility study of the BrightArm™ system. They played custom games targeting several cognitive domains including short-term and working memory. Clinician observation revealed a positive effect on emotive state...

Therapeutic games motivate patients and intrinsically generate a large number of movement repetitions that is key to inducing brain plasticity and facilitating recovery. While virtual rehabilitation has gained clinical acceptance, bimanual therapy is less developed at this time. The novel RABBIT system combines physical and cognitive training via i...

Controlled studies show that motor function can be maintained in the chronic phase post-stroke. Unfortunately, standard of care does not currently include long-term maintenance rehabilitation for these patients. The case study reported here involved 6-weeks booster virtual rehabilitation therapy at 2 years post initial VR training. The booster used...

Virtual rehabilitation games have gained increased clinical acceptance in the therapy of patients post stroke or traumatic brain injury. This is due to their ability to motivate, as well as intrinsic large number of movement repetitions that are keys to inducing brain plasticity and facilitating recovery. Unfortunately, bi-manual therapy, while pot...

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of gamebased robotic training of the ankle in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Design: Case study, 12 weeks intervention, with no follow-up. Setting: University research laboratory. Participants: A referred sample of 3 children with cerebral palsy, age 7 to 12, all male, were enrolled. All completed the i...

To describe the development of the BrightArm upper extremity rehabilitation system, and to determine its clinical feasibility with older hemiplegic patients. The BrightArm adjusted arm gravity loading through table tilting. Patients wore an arm support that sensed grasp strength and communicated wirelessly with a personal computer. Games were writt...

Rehabilitation interventions for the hand have shown benefits for children with Hemiplegia due to cerebral palsy or traumatic brain injury. Longer interventions are facilitated if training is provided in the patient's home, due to easier access to care and reduced impact on school or work activities. Providing remote rehabilitation over lengthy per...

Standard of care treats emotive, cognitive and motor rehabilitation needs post severe traumatic brain injury separately. This paper proposes an alternative in the form of convergent rehabilitation, which uses virtual environments to treat the three domains simultaneously. Two clients chronic post severe TBI participated in a feasibility study in wh...

The BrightArm rehabilitation system is designed for integrative motor, emotive and cognitive training of low- and higher-functioning individuals. This paper presents the BrightArm's first feasibility study on 5 elderly skilled nursing facility residents chronic post-stroke. Results show improvements in motor impairments, upper extremity function, i...

The purpose of the study described here was to develop and feasibility test the Rutgers Ankle CP, aimed at ankle strengthening and improved control for children with cerebral palsy (CP). The system was an upgrade in hardware (new foot attachment, new robot controller) and software (new games and programming language) of the earlier Rutgers Ankle in...

Virtual reality videogames can be used to motivate rehabilitation, and telerehabilitation can be used to improve access to rehabilitation. These uses of technology to improve health outcomes are a burgeoning area of rehabilitation research. So far, there is a lack of reports of long-term outcomes of these types of interventions. The authors report...

The Rutgers Arm II (RA II) is a new system that trains the shoulder/arm motor control, strengthening, arm speed of motion, endurance, and grasp strength in a single rehabilitation session. The system components are a tilted low-friction table, a forearm support with markers and wireless transmitter, a shoulder appendage to detect compensatory leani...

The convergence of game technology, the Internet, and rehabilitation science forms the second-generation virtual rehabilitation framework. This paper presents the first pilot study designed to look at the feasibility of at-home use of gaming technology adapted to address hand impairments in adolescents with hemiplegia due to perinatal stroke or int...

Golomb MR, McDonald BC, Warden SJ, Yonkman J, Saykin AJ, Shirley B, Huber M, Rabin B, AbdelBaky M, Nwosu ME, Barkat-Masih M, Burdea GC. In-home virtual reality videogame telerehabilitation in adolescents with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. To investigate whether in-home remotely monitored virtual reality videogame-based telerehabilitation in adolescent...

Indiana University School of Medicine and the Rutgers Tele-rehabilitation Institute have collaborated for over a year on a clinical pilot study of in-home hand telerehabiltation. Virtual reality videogames were used to train three adolescents with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Training duration varied between 6 and 11 months. The investigators summari...

The Rutgers Arm II system consists of a low-friction tilting table, a vision-tracked forearm support, a PC and a large display. Patients play a number of custom Java 3D games using their affected arm while supported by- or resisted by gravity through the table tilting. Four chronic post-stroke subjects (between 6 months and 5 years following stroke...

We can trace the origins of virtual rehabilitation to the late 80s when sensing gloves were used to determine the degree of hand tremor in patients with Parkinson, and virtual environments were investigated as a medium to train wheelchair navigation. At the first Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference in San Diego in 1992, we proposed a unified...

The convergence of game technology (software and hardware), the Internet, and rehabilitation science forms the second-generation virtual rehabilitation framework. This reduced-cost and patient/therapist familiarity facilitate adoption in clinical practice. This paper presents a PlayStation 3-based hand physical rehabilitation system for children wi...

The Rutgers Arm II trains primarily shoulder motor control, arm dynamic response, endurance and cognitive anticipatory strategies in virtual environments. It improves on our earlier Rutgers Arm by replacing magnetic tracking with a visual tracking and by the use of a training table that tilts. Pilot trials with a single subject showed clear depende...

Presence in virtual environments is achieved when the user is immersed and experiences a sense of realism. Multi-modal feedback is used to create this sense of realism. This study tested the contributions of visual stimuli and haptic effects to the userspsila sense of realism on a walking simulator. Haptic effects were modeled as an icy or a muddy...

While the majority of today's haptic interfaces and applications are tar-geted at the able-bodied user, a rapidly growing field of science studies the use of this technology in physical rehabilitation. There are many rea-sons the reader may wish to take a closer look at this application domain. One reason concerns societal impact, as there are abou...

While the majority of today’s haptic interfaces and applications are targeted at the able-bodied user, a rapidly growing field of science studies the use of this technology in physical rehabilitation. There are many reasons the reader may wish to take a closer look at this application domain. One reason concerns societal impact, as there are about 7...

To a large extent the robotics and the newer virtual reality (VR) research communities have been working in isolation. This article reviews three areas where integration of the two technologies can be beneficial. First we consider VR-enhanced CAD design, robot programming, and plant layout simulation. Subsequently we discuss how VR is being used in...

The seven papers in this special section were originally presented at the International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation (IWVR). The selected papers cover some of the following topics: a novel magnetorheologic force feedback glove; how virtual environments can be used to help patients operate a simulated limb to interact with virtual objects; a n...

Telerehabilitation is the provision of rehabilitation services at a distance by a therapist at a remote location. Integration with virtual reality (VR) is a relatively new addition to this field. This paper describes the technical and patient performance of a telerehabilitation application the remote console (ReCon) that is integrated with a VR sys...

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by the compression of the median nerve as it transits the carpal tunnel, with an incidence of about 1% of the population. If surgery is needed, the treatment involves decompression of the median nerve followed sometimes by musculoskeletal outpatient rehabilitation. This paper presents a proof-of-concept pilot clinic...

This tutorial is intended for those new to the VR/VE field. It will present topics related to Input Devices (such as and Gesture Interfaces), Output Devices (such as Haptic Displays and auto-stereoscopic displays), Computing Architectures for VR, Modeling of virtual objects, VR Programming issues, Human Factors in VR (user performance evaluations a...

The present invention relates to a force feedback and sensing system for a hand in which an actuator system and sensing system is coupled to a palm base attached to the hand or a glove. The actuator system includes double acting actuators which provide force feedback against digits of the hand to simulate a real experience a user would have if dire...

To investigate the effectiveness of computerized virtual reality (VR) training of the hemiparetic hand of patients poststroke using a system that provides repetitive motor reeducation and skill reacquisition. Eight subjects in the chronic phase poststroke participated in a 3-week program using their hemiparetic hand in a series of interactive compu...

The Remote Console (ReCon) is a telerehabilitation application that allows therapists to remotely communicate with patients while monitoring and controlling their virtual rehabilitation exercises. It provides therapists visual feedback of patients' movements, their exercise simulations replicated in real time and with tools to conduct training with...

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Its prevalence calls for innovative rehabilitation methods. The Rutgers Arm is a novel upper extremity rehabilitation system consisting of a low-friction table, three-dimensional (3D) tracker, custom forearm support, PC workstation, library of Java 3D virtual reality (VR) exerci...

Telerehabilitation is the provision of rehabilitation services at a distance, by a therapist at a remote location. Telerehabilitation, integrated with virtual reality, is a relatively new addition to this field. This paper describes the technical and patient performance of a virtual reality based telerehabilitation system for ankle training. Telere...

We are witnessing the convergence of game technology (both software and hardware) with rehabilitation science to form a second-generation virtual rehabilitation framework. This is fortunate in view of the need to reduce system costs and thus facilitate adoption in clinical practice. This paper presents an Xbox-based physical rehabilitation system c...

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by the compression of the median nerve as it transits the carpal tunnel, with an incidence of about 1% of the population. If surgery is needed, the treatment involves decompression of the median nerve followed sometimes by musculo-skeletal outpatient rehabilitation. This paper presents results of pilot clinical tria...

Presents the welcome message from the conference proceedings.

Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Haptics, Virtual, and Augmented Reality

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Its prevalence calls for innovative rehabili-tation methods for post-stroke patients. The Rutgers Arm is a novel arm rehabilitation system consisting of a spe-cial table, 3D tracker, custom forearm support, PC workstation, library of Java 3D VR exercises, clinical data-base modu...

We developed a novel interface that gives upper-limb amputees a virtual hand that can manipulate objects in a challenging environment. The interface registers specific myokinetic activity of the residual limbs, and encodes the intended voluntary move- ments that are then actualized as virtual hand motions. The composite myokinetic interface-virtual...

Usability studies are an essential and iterative component of technology develop- ment and ease its transfer from the laboratory to the clinic. Although such studies are standard methodology in today's graphical user-interface applications, it is not clear that current methods apply to new technologies such as virtual reality. Thus experimentation...

We present preliminary results from a virtual reality (VR)-based system for hand rehabilitation that uses a CyberGlove and a Rutgers Master II-ND haptic glove. This system trains finger range of motion, finger flexion speed, independence of finger motion and finger strength. Eight chronic post-stroke subjects participated. In keeping with variabili...

The use of virtual-reality technology in the areas of rehabilitation and therapy continues to grow, with encouraging results being reported for applications that address human physical, cognitive, and psychological functioning. This article presents ...

Without force feedback, a head-mounted display user's avatar may penetrate virtual objects. Some virtual environment designers prevent visual interpenetration, making the assumption that prevention improves user experience. However, preventing visual ...

The Remote Console (ReCon) telerehabilitation system provides a platform for therapists to guide rehabilitation sessions from a remote location. The ReCon system integrates real-time graphics, audio/video communication, private therapist chat, post-test data graphs, extendable patient and exercise performance monitoring, exercise pre-configuration...

The paper presents the simulation and modeling of gait on a system using two prototype compact Stewart platforms. Control issues raised by the reduced size of the robots and hence their lower power output are discussed. The flexible haptic material concept is introduced and used to realistically model heterogeneous haptic surfaces simulating the vi...

An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as HTML full text and PDF.

The hardware and software costs of telerehabilitation systems are summarized. Several hardware and software examples are given in order to look at what has been done, and what can be done in the future. At present only a single low-cost telerehabilitation system (developed at the University of California at Irvine) has been identified. The author d...

This article looks at the teaching aspects of virtual reality, as opposed to the use of virtual reality as a teaching tool (in virtual teaching environments). It is motivated by a perceived need for clarity, focus, and dialogue that are lacking within the VR community of developers, instructors, and end users. The market for visualization/3D comput...

Not Available

A robotic mobility simulator is being developed to allow training on various hapticly simulated surfaces while still being in the safe clinical environment. The simulator is integrated with a rich virtual environment displayed in front of the patient. The system uses two Stewart platform robots to render the walking surface geometry and condition....

We present preliminary results from a virtual reality (VR)-based system for hand rehabilitation that uses a CyberGlove and a Rutgers Master II-ND haptic glove. This system trains finger range of motion, finger flexion speed, independence of finger motion and finger strength. Eight chronic post-stroke subjects participated. In keeping with variabili...

Development and application of virtual reality (VR) systems for rehabilitation is an iterative process produced by collaboration of an inter-disciplinary team of engineers, neuroscientists and clinician-scientists. In this paper the use of virtual reality technology for the rehabilitation of individuals post-stroke is described. The development of...

This article looks at the teaching aspects of virtual reality, as opposed to the use of virtual reality as a teaching tool (in virtual teaching environments). It is motivated by a perceived need for clarity, focus, and dialogue that are lacking within the VR community of developers, instructors, and end users. The market for visualization/3D comput...

From the Publisher: This in-depth review of current virtual reality technology and its applications provides a detailed analysis of the engineering, scientific and functional aspects of virtual reality systems and the fundamentals of VR modeling and programming. It also contains an exhaustive list of present and future VR applications in a number o...

The efficacy of virtual reality-based rehabilitation for orthopedic patients needs to be determined. This paper presents three case studies in which the use of the Rutgers Ankle haptic interface for ankle rehabilitation is evaluated. The Rutgers Ankle is a computer-controlled compact robotic platform that measures foot position and orientation and...

Virtual rehabilitation represents the provision of therapeutic interventions locally or at a distance, using Virtual Reality hardware and simulations. Such therapy has been applied to various patient populations, including musculo-skeletal, post-stroke, and cognitively- impaired. This article reviews the benefits brought by VR-enhanced and VR-based...

A groundbreaking Virtual Reality textbook is now even better Virtual reality is a very powerful and compelling computer application by which humans interact with computer-generated environments in a way that mimics real life and engages various senses. Although its most widely known application is in the entertainment industry, the real promise of...