A Framework for Webcam-based Hand Rehabilitation Exercises

Applications for home-based care are rapidly increasing in importance due to spiraling health and elderly care costs. An important aspect of home-based care is exercises for rehabilitation and improving general health. In this paper we present a framework for demonstrating and monitoring hand exercises. The three main components are a 3D hand model, a high-level animation framework which facilitates the task of specifying hand exercises via skeletal animation, and a hand tracking program to monitor and evaluate users’ performance. Our hand tracking solution has no calibration stage and is easily set-up. Segmentation is performed using a perception-based colour space, and hand tracking and motion estimate are obtained using novel variations to a CAMSHIFT and contour analysis algorithms. The results indicate that the robust tracking along with the demonstration and reconstruction of hand exercises provide an effective platform for hand rehabilitation.