Consumer Electronics Daily News

Stream TV to Present Consumer-Ready 4KTVs with Glasses-Free 3D at CES 2014

Stream TV Networks will be showcasing consumer-ready 4KTVs featuring breakthrough Ultra-D™ glasses-free adjustable 3D technology during 2014 International CES.  Of the various sizes to be brought to market by the company's brand partners in 2014, the 50" and 55" models will be on display.

Some of the TVs will be accompanied by the seeCube-4K™, an external device that converts a wide range of content – 2D or 3D stereoscopic sources –  to 2160p glasses-free 3D in real time. Stream TV has successfully ported its realtime conversion technology to the new Qualcomm 8074 processor, and a second version of the TV will carry the conversion technology built into a chip, significantly reducing costs. Using complex algorithms, the Ultra-D technology converts 1080p/2 million pixel content into a 4K/8 million pixel viewing experience. Users can connect their satellite or cable service, VOD, Blu-ray player, Xbox or PlayStation, as well as watch Internet content from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Baidu TV, PPStv, iQYi tv, Totou TV and other video sites with ease.

Qualcomm's latest 8074 processor features the new Krait 400 CPU in quad configuration, with speeds of up to 2.3 GHz per core for best-in-class performance per watt, so processor performance can hold up to the more demanding processing.The new Adreno 330 GPU delivers more than 2x performance for compute applications over the current Adreno 320 GPU, capturing playback and display in 2160p video.

"Ultra-D presents a never-before-seen glasses-free 3D viewing experience," said Mathu Rajan, CEO of Stream TV Networks. "There's a lack of 4K content out there, but by generating millions of new pixels with depth information, we truly take advantage of what a 4K screen can offer."

Ultra-D will be on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall Booth 14032 during CES.

XMG announces the Great Canadian Appathon(4) is Back to Hack

 Once more, award winning mobile games studio XMG is challenging students from coast-to-coast to test their talent and carry on the legacy that is the Great Canadian Appathon (GCA): a crazy, intense and exhaustingly wonderful hackathon to design the next hit mobile game in just 48 hours. From January 17 to January 19 Canadian college and university students will race against the clock and take their chance at winning a $25,000 grand prize, $5,000 runner-up prize and numerous category prizes. In addition, the top 15 teams of the GCA⁴ will receive a VIP ticket to participate in Canada'sfirst national open data hackathon, the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE), which includes a seat in the invite-only CODE hacker-hub in Toronto as well as travel and accommodation.

"We are proud to announce that going into its fourth year, the GCA remains not only the largest and most national appathon in Canada, but it is also the first and only hackathon to be officially sponsored in part by the Canadian government," says Ray Sharma, President and Founder of XMG Studio Inc. "But this is by far not the only new and exciting change: McDonald's has stepped up and will help feed the hungry hoards of hackers as the official food sponsor, and we're bringing in the art schools in a way that has never been done before. We have built a custom tool that allows, for example, a developer from the University of Ottawa to link up with an artist from the Ontario College of Art & Design to collaborate!"

Taking a completely new approach to the creation of teams and allowing students to connect and find each other across the boarders of different fields of study, schools and provinces, the GCA⁴ has kicked expectations for national hackathons up a notch. The specially developed matchmaking tool in the sign-in section of the GCA⁴ website allows anyone to find the team members needed to take an idea from concept to completion.

"This means everyone has the chance to bring together an ultimate team of programmers, artists and designers and truly opens up the competition to everyone - regardless of digital prowess," says Steve Engels, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, one of the designated GCA⁴ HUBs. "The results of this effort will be better-balanced teams and thereby higher quality submissions."

Like the Great Canadian Appathon³ - the largest competitive hackathon in Canada to date with over 500 participants - the GCA⁴guarantees all who take part 48 hours of intense fun, the opportunity to learn all kinds of new code, and a chance to build a mobile game on their operating system of choice. Students can compete from any of the 20 physical GCA⁴ HUBs set up on campuses of selected universities and colleges, or participate virtually from their homes, schools or their local coffee shop. XMG will be sending its talented designers and developers to selected HUBs to motivate and mentor the teams. All others can rely on a 48-hour support line for questions and advice on how to work with the latest interfaces.

The GCA⁴ will start at 5 p.m. (local time) on January 17, 2014 and continue for 48 hours, ending at 5 p.m. on January 19, 2014. Following the event, the submitted games will be evaluated on criteria such as the degree of innovation, the fun and entertainment factor, the level of art and design polish as well as stability. The three finalists will be honoured on February 13, 2014 in Toronto at the grand finale event where they will demo their games in front of a live audience and the GCA celebrity judges.

More information about the event including supported platforms, team registrations, rules and regulations, is available at www.greatcanadianappathon.com.

New Year Starts with New Download Games

Gamers looking forward to a 2014 packed full of new challenges are being treated to an early hit of new download games as MyRealGames.com confirms a series of titles not seen before on site are available to play now.

One of the early New Year arrivals is the hotly anticipated car game, Monsters' Wheels. An action-packed racing title, Monsters' Wheels is a high-octane monster trucks racing spectacular that puts players in the driving seat. Boost the chosen vehicle to reach crazy speeds, perform stunts, upgrade to bigger and better performance and earn money. Gamers going full throttle in the championship will be faced with 16 missions and a choice of four monster trucks.

The new uploads also include three puzzle titles - a genre which shows no signs of losing steam in 2014. One of 2013's most popular games categories, the puzzle section will be boosted ahead of the New Year with the addition of Jigsaw Boom 2, Asian Riddles and the festive Christmas Puzzle.

As the name suggests, Jigsaw Boom 2 is a jigsaw puzzle game with the player in control of how hard their puzzle is - choices range from 12 to 850 puzzle pieces. In Asian Riddles, the player must call on all of their reserves of logic to solve hundreds of pattern riddles. Set to beautiful graphics, the brain-teasing logic game has more than 100 levels, more than four hours of game play to enjoy and nine magnificent locations to experience. In the Match 3 Christmas Puzzle, players prepare their house for the holidays with beautiful lights and decorations. Gamers are treated to seasonal music and beautiful winter backgrounds as they navigate through a series of Match 3 levels to collect Santa's coins.

The strategy game Royal Defense: Invisible Threat is the final new title to make its My Real Games debut ahead of the start of the New Year. The downloadable game features more than 40 progressively challenging levels. Players must defend the fortress from trolls sent to raid the lands, build towers, collect crystals, earn money and upgrade spells to keep the enemies at bay. There are 17 different kinds of creatures to thwart and 12 variations of towers and structures to construct.

Nikolai Veselov from MyRealGames.com said, "2013 has been an incredible year for My Real Games and we're delighted to round it off with yet more new titles. With a huge range of great new download games in some of our most popular categories, we're positive that our visitors will welcome in the New Year with a smile on their face! We're looking forward to adding even more new titles to all genres in 2014."

To find out more and to play, visit http://www.myrealgames.com. No registration is required.

LG Audio Video Lineup with Convenient Smart Features and Explosive Sound

LG Electronics' U.S. audio video lineup will be showcased at next month's 2014 International CES® (booth #8204). The premium selection of products offer consumers solutions with rich, deeply satisfying sound along with the plethora of convenient smart connectivity features.

"TV screens may get the majority of consumers' attention in the showroom but the unsung hero of great home entertainment is sound," said Byung-hoon Min, Senior Vice President of the AV Division of LG's Home Entertainment Company. "At LG, we devote a significant portion of our TV research and development on the audio experience because we believe this will be the next battleground for winning the hearts and minds of home entertainment aficionados."

Combining Smart TV with Astonishing Sound 
LG expanded its offerings in the emerging SoundPlate category with an all-in-one home entertainment unit, (model LAB540W). At a mere 39.5mm high, this stylish device is space efficient and can be placed directly underneath a variety of 32- to 55-inch class TVs to minimize clutter. The new model is equipped with a robust 4.1 channel, 320W sound system and an external wireless subwoofer.

The SoundPlate can also serve as a connectivity portal and features a built-in 3D Blu-ray player along with LG Smart TV functionality, transforming any flat screen TV into a Smart TV with powerful sound performance. Additionally, customers can wirelessly stream music to the LAB540W from a compatible smart phone or tablet via Bluetooth.

Streaming High Quality Music to Multiple Rooms 
LG extended its audio lineup to include a versatile home audio system with a selection of networkable wireless speakers. LG's Multi-Room Speaker System provides a great solution for consumers by allowing them to wirelessly stream audio files from their compatible smartphones, tablets, or computers to multiple speakers simultaneously. Several speakers can be set up in any combination of rooms, connecting an entire house under a single system.

The embedded network technology makes it possible to choose between playing the same song throughout the home or different songs through each speaker. LG developed a downloadable app to turn a smartphone into an easy-to-use master control unit with an interface that lets users seamlessly stream locally saved music or audio from online sources. Overall clarity is enhanced by a dual-tweeter arrangement and 24 bit/192kHz offers studio-like sound quality. The two speakers in the lineup include:

NP8740 – 70W Speaker, with built-in Wi-Fi (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth enabled and MESH network  capable.

NP8540 – 40W Speaker, with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth enabled and MESH network capable.

Compelling Audio Sophistication in Minimalist Design
LG refreshed its Sound Bar options for 2014 with two new models that are the perfect complement for a wide variety of TV sizes and styles. The NB5540 is LG's flagship model with an aesthetic meant to match LG's modern thin-bezel TVs. The system features 4.1 channels and a powerful 320 watts output and a wireless subwoofer. Despite its low profile body, the NB5540 delivers rich, room-filling audio thanks to two forward-facing and two rear-facing channel configuration. The unit will employ a Hi-Fi DAC and Analog Class D amp to ensure superior HD audio quality, minimizing the loss of detail and producing clean, natural sound.

For easy connectivity, it supports HDMI with Audio Return Channel (ARC), and is also Bluetooth enabled, facilitating wireless audio streaming from compatible smart devices such as a Smart TV or smartphone.

Also key to the 2014 bar lineup is the NB3740A, which offers consumers premium streaming content from embedded partners including Netflix, Vudu, CinemaNow, Pandora and vTuner. It is also a 4.1 channel, 320W system that features HDMI/ARC and Bluetooth connectivity.

Winning Track Record
The 2014 lineup includes a number of other premium products to deliver convenient wireless connectivity and an unforgettable auditory experience. LG will introduce three new Blu-ray Disc players in 2014. The flagship model (BP740) will offer a range of comprehensive Smart features via Built-in Wi-Fi capability. Content options include premium services such as Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Netflix and YouTube as well as web browsing. It will also include the LG Magic Remote, enabling customers to navigate the system with easy pointing and-wheel based actions. A unique convenience feature called Private Sound Mode 2.0 will allow users to route the sound from either disc-based or streaming media straight to a compatible Bluetooth headphone or smart phone so content can be enjoyed without disturbing others. Additional Blu-ray players in the U.S. lineup include:

BP540 – Full HD 1080p 3D Network Blu-ray Player features LG Smart functionality, Private Sound Mode 2.0 and built-in Wi-Fi capability.

BP340 – Full HD 1080p Network Blu-ray Player with a streaming content suite consisting of Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, CinemaNow and Pandora* as well as built-in Wi-Fi capability.

For consumers looking for a more powerful audio experience, LG has also created a 500W Home Theater System in 2014 (model BH5140S). With a streaming 3D Blu-ray player included, it is another all-in-one solution offering augmented sound and numerous content options that consumers have come to expect.

Haier Ranked #1 Global Major Appliances Brand for 5th Consecutive Year

Haier is ranked the world's number one major home appliances brand with a 9.7 percent retail volume share, according to the 2013 Global Major Appliances Brand rankings released by the Euromonitor International consumer market strategy research firm. In terms of the manufacturer rankings, Haier gained the top position with an 11.6 percent market share, while Whirlpool and Electrolux remained Haier's strong competitors.

Haier also maintained its leadership position in the global markets for refrigerators, washing machines, wine coolers and freezers.

According to the research data of Euromonitor in recent years, this is the fifth time Haier has been recognized as the #1 Global Major Appliances Brand. Against the backdrop of increasing international competition, Haier's consistent and steady growth has attracted widespread attention, but industry watchers are even more interested in investigating into the driving factors behind Haier's success.

Haier is deploying a networking strategy to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet era. This differentiates Haier from other players in the global appliances market. Haier aims to develop innovative and smart appliances that users can communicate with through the internet, enabling multi-way communications between users and a suite of smart appliances to create an intelligent life experience.

Haier strives to build smart homes and communities, in order to rapidly create a smart living experience for consumers. However, Haier is not the only player in the smart appliances market, and a number of rivals are challenging its leadership position to gain a larger piece of the pie. Looking ahead, the industry's attention will be focused on if Haier can leverage its networking strategy to maintain its global appliances leadership position amid the intense market competition.

ZeroHour Tactical USB Battery Backup Flashlight Achieves Kickstarter Goal

ZeroHour Innovations has reached its $100,000 Kickstarter goal to fund ZeroHour, a tactical-grade flashlight integrated with a USB Battery Backup that can charge smartphones, tablets, and other USB devices. Over 400 backers will be rewarded a ZeroHour flashlight, which features a 1,000 lumen LED, up to 10,000mAh of USB backup power, and a unique modular component design.

"Reaching our Kickstarter goal is the best gift we could ask for this holiday season," said Aaron Son, Co-founder of ZeroHour Innovations. "We've built a wonderful team of backers, and together we will make ZeroHour the next standard in flashlights for homes and outdoor adventures."

ZeroHour joins an elite group of Kickstarter projects to have raised over $100,000, with less than 2 percent of the 54,000 funded projects to date achieving this goal. Pledges will cover ZeroHour's initial manufacturing costs, with rewards to begin shipping in March 2014.

ZeroHour is now available for pre-order starting at $175 from www.zerohourxd.com. ZeroHour will make its public debut at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas from January 7-10, 2014.

VTech Offers Learning App Bundles For InnoTab Learning Tablet Range

VTech® today announced that it is offering new Learning App Bundles for the award-winning InnoTab® Learning Tablet range. Available on the Learning Lodge™, VTech's comprehensive app store which includes more than 650 apps teaching key curriculum, the Learning App Bundles feature newly developed, educator-approved content packaged in age-appropriate groups, making it easy for parents to choose the right bundle for their child.

"VTech continues to recognize the importance of balancing the learning content parents look for in our InnoTab software with the fun, developmentally-appropriate content kids need," said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. "By collecting our content into Learning App Bundles, we are making it easy for parents to select all-in-one, age-appropriate curricula for their children."

Designed specifically around the unique learning needs of individual age groups from two to five years old, the Learning App Bundles each include seven games and one e-book (except Amazing Animal Museum, with eight games). Each bundle features content focusing on a variety of developmental skills, such as language arts, reading, math, science, social studies and problem solving. The Learning App Bundles are available in fun themes kids will love, including Puppet Party, Tiny Toy Town, Lost City, Fantasy Kingdom and Amazing Animal Museum.

"Learning apps are great for children, but parents can be overwhelmed with the choices available to them," said Dr. Lise Eliot, Early Childhood Mental Development Expert and VTech Toy Development Consultant. "The Learning App Bundles give parents an assortment of age-appropriate content across various developmental subjects, making it easy to select fun, educational apps for their children."

VTech's InnoTab range offers children a variety of tablets that open up a world of age-appropriate educational content across the widest variety of curriculums, from downloads to software cartridges, combining innovative technology with a developmental learning tool that grows with a child and makes learning fun. InnoTab 3S offers VTech Kid Connect™ family communication app and wireless connectivity, while InnoTab 3 delivers a powerful punch in a compact size and at an affordable price.

The Learning Lodge gives parents and children access to purchase hundreds of engaging, age-appropriate games, videos, e-books and music, with more than 650 titles that teach reading, math, social studies, handwriting, science, problem solving, geography and more. The wide variety of educational and engaging content and curriculum is tailor-made for each age group and is suitable for toddlers to grade-schoolers, giving every child an opportunity to expand their learning potential while keeping them entertained. Parents can even track their child's learning progress online. Additional characters featured throughout the downloads and software cartridges are Team Umizoomi™, Dora the Explorer™, Thomas & Friends®, Turbo™, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bubble Guppies and Sesame Street®.

The Learning App Bundles are available for $19.99 at www.vtechkids.com/learninglodge. For more information about the complete InnoTab range and VTech product range, please visit www.vtechkids.com/innotabrange.

Eugene Jarvis Announced as the AIAS 2014 Pioneer Award Recipient

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences will honor game industry trailblazer Eugene Jarvis as its sixth Pioneer Award recipient. Jarvis is best known for his work in the arcade era, with such seminal games as Defender, Stargate, and Robotron: 2084. His work in the coin-op industry made an indelible mark on gaming with many of his designs, triggers and pacing elements featured in video and mobile games today. His classic games are known for extreme action and challenge with highly specialized controls. Jarvis combined this intense twitch-based action with tactical and strategic challenges, creating a deeply addictive and primal game experience.

The AIAS Pioneer Award is reserved for individuals whose career-spanning work has helped shape and define the interactive entertainment industry through the creation of a technological approach or the introduction of a new genre. The 2014 Pioneer Award will be presented by NBA Jam and Bubble Safari creator Mark Turmell, Jarvis's associate while at Midway Games and currently Senior Creative Director at Zynga, during the 17^th D.I.C.E. Awards on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, at The Joint in the Hard Rock Resort and Casino Las Vegas. 

"Eugene is simply the quintessential American game designer," said Turmell. "I joined Midway so I could work with Eugene, and I apply his teachings to my own games every single day. I learned more from my time with him than during my other 30 years of game making combined. His games have taught a generation of game developers how to innovate and succeed; the design elements and his approach to tuning are timeless."

"As we celebrate a new golden age of gaming at this year's D.I.C.E. Summit, it is only fitting that we acknowledge a key player from the golden age of coin-op who was so instrumental in establishing the interactive industry we enjoy today," said Martin Rae, president, AIAS. "Eugene Jarvis truly pioneered much of how we play now – from introducing dual joystick controls which are so familiar today to unleashing game play elements that challenged players in completely different ways."

Jarvis studied Computer Science at UC Berkeley, and in 1977 joined Atari to pursue his dream job – programming microprocessor sound, light effects, and gameplay on Atari's first pinball games. Encouraged by Nolan Bushnell, Jarvis teamed up with legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie on Ritchie's first two games, Airborne Avenger and Superman. In 1979, Jarvis joined Ritchie at Williams in Chicago to continue the quest to make the ultimate pinball game.

After becoming hopelessly addicted to Space Invaders, Jarvis led the team to make Williams' first video game, the action packed side-scroller, Defender. Defender pioneered scrolling playfields, color bit-map graphics, microprocessor sound synthesis, and particle effects.  Defender became the top grossing video game of 1981, beating out runner up Pac-Man, and helped kick off the golden age of arcade games. Jarvis formed Vid Kidz with Larry DeMar in February 1981. After four months of around-the-clock, tag-team programming, they produced Vid Kidz's first game Stargate, an enhanced sequel to Defender.

Jarvis's next hit with Vid Kidz was the intense action game Robotron: 2084. Drawing inspiration from Berzerk and George Orwell's futuristic nightmare thriller "1984," Robotron pioneered the twin joystick control scheme, one stick controlling firing and the other controlling player motion. This intuitive control scheme, now standard on many game consoles, greatly enhanced player control. Because the controls made players so powerful, Robotron compensated by unleashing hordes of enemies and projectiles, numbering in the hundreds, to create action so intense that master-level players could destroy up to 10 enemies per second. In addition to the omni-directional firing and motion, Robotron went beyond twitch-based gameplay to feature rudimentary AI enemies and strategic gameplay for a more cerebral experience than other games of its era.   A continuing cult favorite, Robotron: 2084 was praised by critics for its intense action and control scheme.

In the late '80s Jarvis debuted color digitized backgrounds and live action actors, bringing gritty, street-life realism to the 1988 action hit, NARC.  Jarvis then joined Mark Turmell to create Smash TV, the "Running Man"-inspired Robotron sequel, where crazed game show contestants kill for toasters. In the 1990s, Jarvis developed the arcade driving trilogy Cruis'n USA, Cruis'n World, and Cruis'n Exotica for Midway Games, pioneering 3-D texture map graphics in the photorealistic adventure-driving genre.

Jarvis cofounded a new arcade studio, Raw Thrills Inc., returning to the arcade game world with Target: Terror, and The Fast and the Furious in 2004. Raw Thrills merged with Big Buck Hunter creator Play Mechanix in 2006. Recent releases include Big Buck HD, X-Games SnoCross, Aliens Armageddon, and Batman. In 2008, Jarvis was named DePaul University's first Game Designer in Residence, mentoring aspiring young game developers. Jarvis commented, "I see the future of the industry working with young designers, and believe me it will be total insanity."

The Pioneer Award's first honoree was David Crane, co-founder of Activision and creator of games such as Pitfall and A Boy and his Blob in 2010; followed in 2011 was Bill Budge, creator of Raster Blaster and Pinball Construction Set; the third recipient in 2012 was Ed Logg, famed programmer of the arcade era with Asteroids, Centipede, and Gauntlet in 2012; the most recent recipients in 2013 were Dave Lebling and Marc Blank, co-founders of Infocom and creators of the famed Zork series.  

The 13^th Annual D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit and 17^th D.I.C.E. Awards will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas, Feb. 4-6, 2014. For more information please visit www.dicesummit.org.

 

Perfect World International: New Horizons Now Live

The next expansion to a popular MMO game Perfect World International - New Horizons - is now live.

New Horizons introduces players to many new features and updates to PWI. The new Reawakening system allows players to take their strongest characters back in time to experience the world's beginnings with more stats, better gear, and a higher growth potential than ever before. The addition of the War Avatar system brings a fun new way to customize characters via stat-boosting cards, allowing for more diverse builds to play the way you want to. Players will also get to experience two brand new zones that advance the epic saga of Perfect World, but it will be up to players working together as a whole to reach the end-game! With new quests, skills, instance/event queuing, and launch day events, you can expect this next expansion to take the PWI experience to new horizons!

"New Horizons brings many fresh new features to one of our most popular titles of all time," says Tony Liu, Product Manager at Perfect World Entertainment, which produces the game. "We've just celebrated our fifth anniversary and we have more to come! We can't wait for our players to get their hands on this expansion, and experience this new level of excitement brought to PWI. With New Horizons, we're once again proving our commitment to provide the best free-to-play MMO experiences on the market."

More details about PWI: New Horizons can be found here: 
http://pwi.perfectworld.com/news/?p=1063071

Video Game Feedback May Help the Injured Heal

Video gamers have long been familiar with the thrill of force feedback—the technology that allows players to feel the rumble of a racecar hitting a virtual road or sense the weight of wielding an on-screen sword.  A team of researchers from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) and Sapienza University of Rome have now published findings showing that force feedback is much more than fun. Combined with science learning in a therapeutic setting, it may even be healing.

A paper in the journal PLOS ONE details the experiments devised and performed by NYU-Poly's Maurizio Porfiri, Associate Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Oded Nov, Associate Professor of technology management and innovation, along with Professor Paolo Cappa, an NYU-Poly affiliated faculty member, and visiting master student Andrea Clerico of Sapienza University of Rome.

The use of robotic machines in physical therapy and rehabilitation has been evolving for more than two decades. So-called robot-mediated therapy (RMT) is viewed as too costly or complicated to implement in many care settings.  However, haptic devices—those that provide tactile or force feedback—have become less expensive and are now integrated into gaming joysticks, personal computers, mobile devices, and other everyday technologies. The researchers wanted to test the utility of these haptic devices in physical rehabilitation. In a novel twist, they also incorporated science education elements into the experimental tasks to gauge if such content increased participants' engagement with the exercises.

The team devised a series of experiments on 48 healthy test subjects to determine if force feedback delivered through a readily available, low-cost haptic gaming joystick would positively impact participants' ability to complete on-screen tasks.

They created a 2D virtual map of a popular local attraction, New York City's Bronx Zoo, and asked participants to use the joystick to move a cursor along a set path through the zoo. Short paragraphs of science trivia and information about the zoo popped up along the course, and subjects were asked to read this content when presented.  

Participants were subjected to several types of force feedback and a variety of assessments of their performance were calculated. The joystick delivered converging and diverging forces, pushing the cursor either toward or away from the proscribed path.

"These conditions meant that subjects had to make continual adjustments to counter the force feedback and keep the cursor on track, which affected speed, smoothness, accuracy, and hand position," said Porfiri. "The actions and movements we elicited are similar to the motor exercises used to rehabilitate upper-limb paralysis."

Perhaps one of the most significant findings was the impact of the learning modules. A post-task survey showed that the learning aspect increased participants' interest and engagement in the activity. "This has a particularly strong implication for rehabilitative therapies, as patients quickly grow bored of repetitive tasks," said Nov. "If we can maintain engagement by incorporating some form of learning, there may be greater motivation to perform the tasks and reap the therapeutic benefits."

The research team believes that further studies are warranted, both to test the haptic device in patients with partially paralyzed upper limbs, and to test different types of learning content. The use of specially tuned affordable haptic devices may make it possible for patients to complete sophisticated rehabilitative tasks at home—and flex their mental muscles, too.

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Italian Ministry of Health Department of Medical Devices and Drugs, and the Honours Center of Italian Universities.

The paper, "Can Force Feedback and Science Learning Enhance the Effectiveness of Neuro-Rehabilitation? An Experimental Study on Using a Low-Cost 3D Joystick and a Virtual Visit to a Zoo," is at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0083945#B1.