ICE

Virtual Rehabilitation, a term I coined, is therapy involving tasks done in virtual environments. While this is now an active area, with its own Society and Congress, it remains somewhat unknown and not fully used clinically. I describe Virtual Rehabilitation advantages over standard care, using Gamification, and self-training at home. These are illustrated through some of my studies on stroke, cerebral palsy and Alzheimer's patients. I then analyze barriers to adoption and look at its future involving neural interfaces. The presentation benefits current and future technologists and clinicians looking to address Florida Healthcare shortcommings.

Prof. Burdea received a Doctorate in Applies Sciences from New York University. At the start of his Academic career, Burdea invented the first haptic glove for virtual environments. This device was used in the first tele-rehabilitation experiment between Stanford University and Rutgers, cited by the White House as example of Federally funded research.

Subsequently Prof. Burdea established the International Society on Virtual Rehabilitation (www.isvr.org), and the first international congress on this new scientific domain (which he named). He published over 160 scientific papers as well as several books, cited over 22,000 times. Virtual Reality Technology, latest edition [1] includes a description of the UCF human subjects research. In recognition of Burdea's many scientific contributions, IEEE gave him the "Virtual Reality Career Award," highest in the field.