Designing Bimanual Tangible Interaction for Stroke Survivors

Stroke is a significant cause of long-term disability, impairing over 10 million peoples motor function, primarily on one side of the body every year. Whilst effective rehabilitation exercises can help recover and maintain some affected motor function, stroke survivors often do not carry out enough of these. Instead relying on their `good' side to carry out tasks. However, this leads to poor recovery limiting the ability to carry out everyday bimanual tasks (such as dressing or cooking). We present work that seeks to support stroke survivors to engage in bimanual rehabilitation through interaction with augmented tangible objects that can be used to control everyday devices. Through a user-centered design process, we uncovered how bimanual rehabilitation can be supported. This led to the development of the ActivSticks device that allows bimanual rehabilitation and interaction with other devices and services.