Drexel Hosts Workshop For Therapeutic Video Games
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Video games with a purpose. Researchers gather at Drexel University to compare notes on how video games are being used in health care.
Training hospital staff. Rehab for stroke patients. Treating cognitive impairment.
Two dozen researchers from the U.S. and the U.K. are attending a three-day workshop at Drexel University on how video games can address health care challenges.
Drexel's Dr. Maggie O'Neil has co-developed a game called Kollect, that's kind of like a Wii-version of Fruit Ninja, to encourage fitness in children with cerebral palsy.
"We have a vision that this Kollect game will have purpose as a home active recreation device," said Dr. O'Neil
"It's basically like whack-a-mole. But the stimuli were these fuzzy blobs that we call gabors," said Professor Aaron Seitz of the University of California-Riverside, presenting his game ULTIMEYES.
Seitz says his game improved the vision, and ultimately the performance, of his college's baseball team.