New frontiers of Augmented Reality: a shared experience between patient and therapist

Augmented Reality (AR) enhances the real world with digital content visible through smartphones, tablets, or headsets. It doesn’t replace reality but enriches it, making it more interactive—with arrows showing a path, virtual objects, or animated avatars that engage with the user.

In rehabilitation, AR holds great potential thanks to its ability to personalize content. The patient needs to be motivated by simple and engaging elements, while the therapist requires precise data to monitor progress. Therefore, it’s essential to provide differentiated content: gamified for the patient and analytical for the therapist.

Effective AR-based rehabilitation requires:

• Synchronization of the content shown to both patient and therapist.
  
• Stimulating elements for the patient, such as collectible virtual items or guiding avatars.
  
• Technical data for the therapist (e.g., trajectories, speed, precision).
  

An innovative example of this approach is a project developed in collaboration with the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), led by Professor Hirokazu Kato—one of the world’s leading AR experts and creator of the still widely used AR Toolkit.

The system uses two Meta Quest 3 headsets—one worn by the patient and one by the therapist. The therapist controls the AR experience from a tablet, setting the virtual environment and selecting an avatar (e.g., a dog or robot) to guide the patient along a predefined path.

The avatar interacts dynamically: it stops when the patient stops, barks to encourage movement, and drops virtual items along the way for the patient to collect.

At the end of the session:

• The therapist receives detailed data (e.g., path deviations, average and peak speed, accuracy).
  
• The patient sees simple, motivating feedback (e.g., number of items collected).
  

The use of AR in rehabilitation represents a technological frontier that enhances not only physical abilities but also patient autonomy, motivation, and emotional engagement. Thanks to the combination of synchronized digital content, gamification, and user-friendly technology, innovative scenarios are opening up in rehabilitative medicine, benefiting both patients and therapists. Collaboration with leading institutions like NAIST enables us to develop increasingly effective systems designed to build a shared digital ecosystem and to redefine future rehabilitation standards.

Related studies:

De Cecco, M., Luchetti, A., Butaslac III, I., Pilla, F., Guandalini, G. M. A., Bonavita, J., … & Hirokazu, K. (2023). Sharing augmented reality between a patient and a clinician for assessment and rehabilitation in daily living activities. Information, 14(4), 204.

Link to a previous application:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmQPzhYU65I