Sense Glove: A Helping Hand for VR Pain Therapy
Entertainment technology gone rogue
I first encountered Sense Glove at the VR edition of Startup Germany Tech Camp in Berlin. What made it standout wasn’t just the technology — which is undoubtedly impressive — but its creators’ underlying philosophy. Rather than take the same route as other data glove developers, Sense Glove is using it to help improve people’s lives.
When it comes to pain relief, VR is like a lollipop from the doctor on vaccination day. The distraction lowers activity in the region of the brain that processes pain. When you’re in a highly immersive virtual environment, your attention is lured deep into it. You forget where you are, and your focus shifts away from your body and its associated pain. This phenomenon is called VR analgesia, and although we still don’t fully comprehend how it works, studies show it’s significantly effective: It’s already employed as a complementary therapy in research clinics across the world.
The rise and subsequent failure of VR in the ’90s left a hole in our creative minds. But since its rebirth, in the form of Palmer Luckey’s Oculus Rift, VR has thrived not only by giving life to impossible worlds for our entertainment, but in research that focuses on improving our quality of life on many fronts, attempting to cure us of apathy, helping to control stress and confront our fears, and even relieving us from physical pain. The latter is an area in which VR has been gaining ground for the past 15 years, and is finally becoming accessible to the wider world.
The power of suggestion
Phantom limb pain is experienced by more than half of all amputees. In many cases, the symptoms are chronic and debilitating. Thought to be a result of a reorganized motor and sensory neurons, the condition causes sufferers to feel pain in their absent limbs.
The phenomenon’s clear correlation between body and mind makes it a fascinating topic of study for researchers, who have for years been studying VR as a potential treatment. It turns out, however, that the question is much more complex than mere distraction techniques used for other types of pain.
This issue was first tackled in the mid-’90s, back when VR was just a novelty for entertainment. A group of researchers had a breakthrough with something called mirror visual feedback (MVF) therapy, which consists of a box with a vertical mirror into which an amputee places his or her intact limb to see its reflection. The optical illusion created by the mirror tricks the brain into believing the missing limb is present, and the imagined movement significantly helps alleviate patients’ pain.
Several years later, researchers used the same principle in an immersive VR system, which features limbs that respond to real life movements, creating a sense of body appropriation in the virtual environment using tracking systems and accessories, such as gloves. The system could mirror movements of the intact limb and place it in the location of the phantom. The result was positive, albeit temporary. But as a form of therapy, VR did not make it to clinics, due mainly to the high cost of equipment and maintenance since the Oculus Rift was still an idea in a young man’s head — leaving only the researchers to continue carrying out the work, until a few years ago.
Sense Glove: a startup with lofty ambition
These days, the technology is thriving, and VR analgesic solutions are more accessible than ever. Sense Glove, a Delft-based startup co-founded by Johannes Luijten and Gijs den Butter, is leading the way with its data glove, a movement-tracking exoskeleton with vibration motors for haptic feedback.
The glove is equipped with 16 degrees of freedom to track the movements of the joints in the fingers and six more to measure wrist motions, making it one of the most accurate hand controllers in the world. This level of accuracy and authenticity is set to hugely improve the efficacy of virtual body appropriation. At this point, the applications are vast and remain largely untapped.
Waiting in line to try it for myself, a monitor displayed the actions of the current user in real-time. We all smiled watching as the guy ahead of me clearly became utterly detached from his surroundings.
Finally it was my turn. I slipped on the exoskeleton glove, which was rigged up to a HTC Vibe headset and wrist tracker. It was fascinatingly light, and allowed me to perform a range of natural hand movements without difficulty. My virtual extremities embodied, what followed was a remarkable sense of immersion.
The first virtual environment I tried was designed for hand and wrist rehabilitation. I had to pick up objects and place them on a table. As I moved things around, I kept forgetting I wasn’t in the real world and instinctively tried to lean on a table that wasn’t there. While I was stacking objects like a game of Jenga, the team could determine the range of motion of my hand and wrist.
“In a patient’s case, this range of motion determines whether movements are sufficient to begin training with real life objects, avoiding any potential injuries.”
For this particular application, Sense Glove created a prototype with small servo-motors that restrict the motion of the hand when a virtual object is touched, a feature set to exponentially improve the VR immersion experience.
Next up was a MVF therapy environment. The second it started I could see the virtual arm of my gloved hand in the exact position my other arm should be, creating the impression that the virtual limb was indeed mine. If I stayed still everything seemed normal, but the moment I started to move my geared arm and hand, while keeping the other one motionless, I experienced an inexplicable sensation. I felt like I had gained a third limb. I became hypnotized by movements I could perceive as my own.
The startup is currently testing other mirror therapy applications.
“The glove can accelerate a person’s capability to learn skills they’re not accustomed to with the intact limb, for example brushing their teeth.”
It can also help with error augmentation, a therapy based on exaggerating hand motions to help patients become accustomed to unfamiliar movements.
Sense Glove is not alone in its quest to bring VR into our clinics and homes. Working alongside InMotionVR, the Rijndam Rehabilitation Centre and the Hospital of Leiden, the team plans to offer home-based therapy to patients while running an ongoing progress monitoring scheme.
One of Sense Glove’s main competitors is already widely used across a range of disciplines, including VR, animation, robotics and medicine. Virtual Motion Labs (VML)’s VMG 30 plus data glove, is a lighter and more mature solution for motion tracking, and despite a comparable price, the latest system can measure up to nine degrees of freedom, a fraction of the Sense Glove’s capability.
The whole experience made me think about the incredible psychological impact Sense Glove’s technology can have on an amputee, and I was once again inspired by the vision of those who developed it. And although this technology is still taking its first steps, thanks to den Butter’s entrepreneurship skills and clear view of the strategic road ahead, and Luijten’s highly technical knowhow and passion in the field, they are undoubtedly on their way to success.
I’m excited to watch that futuristic dream take place, as VR promises to relieve us from suffering and improve our wellbeing.
