2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Para-esports: defining player motor and cognitive performance metrics and creating competitive-gaming interfaces for amputees

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	21H03475
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 61020:Human interface and interaction-related
Research Institution	University of Tsukuba
Principal Investigator	Hassan Modar 筑波大学, システム情報系, 助教 (20830201)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	清水如代筑波大学, 医学医療系, 准教授 (40620993) 松田壮一郎筑波大学, 人間系, 助教 (90762675)
Project Period (FY)	2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	Human Interface / Assistive Robotics / Motor Control / Cyber Interfaces
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We have investigated the motor performance metrics needed to achieve high performance in para-esports and controlling cyber spaces. The research showed that a high bandwidth (bits/second) interface for persons with amputation is possible using the spatial orientation of the forearm (remaining limb) as a pointing device. The forearm yielded bandwidth higher than a joystick in healthy persons and amputees, and the headway for motor learning (Hassan et al. IEEE Access 2022). The project results also showed that using bioelectrical signals is a good candidate for a high-tempo (actions/second) interface (Ccorimanya et al. SII 2023). Cognitive aspects of online communication in esports were also investigated, showing that biosignals can effectively augment the perceived social presence of a partner (Hassan et al. IEEE Access, 2024, in-press). A platform to transfer the findings of this project to physical rehabilitation has been investigated as well (Kennard et al. Front. Robot. AI, 2024).
Free Research Field	Human Interface and Wearable Robotics
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	We demonstrated the potential for persons with upper limb amputation to participate in esports, inclusion in online and cyber spaces, and to qualify for jobs that require intensive use of computers. Cognitive aspects are also expected to contribute to inclusion and performance in cyber spaces.