Designing co-located tabletop interaction for rehabilitation of brain injury

This paper surveys emerging design research on co-located group interaction with tabletop displays as an approach toward developing an upper-limb movement rehabilitation system for acquired brain injury (ABI). Traditional approaches and newer virtual reality interventions for physical therapy tend to focus on individuals interacting one-on-one with a therapist in a clinical space – this is both labor intensive and costly. Co-located tabletop environments have been shown to enhance the engagement of users, translating to skill acquisition. We describe the principles of group interaction that inform our understanding of motor rehabilitation using interactive media; explore four constructs from interactive tabletop research that may influence the design of co-located systems for rehabilitation: 1) physical space, 2) group awareness, 3) territoriality, and 4) interaction simultaneity; and consider how each construct can be expressed in particular design solutions for rehabilitation of ABI.