From left: Dr. Hayashibe, Dr. Lahiri, Dr. Das, Dr. González
Sept. 29, 2015 – 9 to 10 AM – Room 2/124 – talk by Dr. Uttama Lahiri (INRIA-DST collaborator)
Title: Gaze-based Prognostic Tool and Virtual Reality based Rehabilitation Platform for Patients
with Neurological Disorders
Name: Dr. Uttama Lahiri
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, India
Gaze-based Prognostic Tool for Patients with Neurological Disorders
Eye movements are a continuous and ubiquitous part of sensory perception. To properly generate highly
accurate and co-ordinate ocular movements, a vast network of brain areas are engaged, from low-level
visual processing to motor control of gaze orientation. This renders oculomotor system vulnerable to
various neurological disorders with unique clinical patterns. Therefore, oculomotor examination can serve
as an early and sensitive indicator for various neurological conditions. A simple-to-use, clinically valid
system for objectively assessing the oculomotor function can thus bring a paradigm shift in diagnosis and
treatment of brain disorders. In our research we have designed a gaze assessment tool, called SmartEye,
which is based on eye fixation, smooth pursuit, and blinking in response to both static and dynamic visual
stimuli.
Physiology-sensitive Virtual Reality based Stroke Rehabilitation platform
Stroke is a leading cause of adult death and disability, often followed by muscle weakness and loss of
control in limbs. Consequently, individuals with hemiplegia are often unable to perform simple daily
living tasks which require coordination skills. In the present study we have developed proof-of-concept
Virtual Reality (VR) based tasks where the participant is asked to navigate objects in the VR environment
by interacting with the environment with a haptic device. Our VR-based environment offers tasks of
varying challenges in an individualized manner that is adaptive to one’s task performance.
Simultaneously, we acquire the participant’s physiological measures as biomarkers of one’s stress level.
Such systems have also been developed by our research team to train participants in balance tasks since, a
vast majority of stroke patients have problems of fall, thereby adversely affecting their independent
navigation capability.
Biography
Uttama Lahiri has received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, USA. Currently, she is an Assistant
Professor at IIT Gandhinagar, India. Her research interests include robot-assisted surgical technique,
Virtual Reality based affective computing, Eye Tracking and Physiology based modeling techniques, and
Adaptive Intelligent techniques in cognitive research.
