Serious Games for Rehabilitation

Our research in Serious Games for Rehabilitation and Well-being explores how interactive and immersive games can support physical, cognitive, and emotional health. By integrating adaptive gameplay and Exergaming methodologies, we design engaging experiences that promote motor recovery, stress management, and active aging. These games provide personalized, motivating, and accessible rehabilitation solutions, enhancing traditional therapy and fostering long-term well-being through play.

Collaborators: Jennifer Boger, Shi Cao, Felipe Villada

Keywords: Exergaming, Serious Games, Rehabilitation, Biofeedback, Virtual Reality, NeuroRehabilitation, Electromyography - EMG, Floor-Projection.

Immersive Training in Public Safety

Our research in Immersive Training for Public Safety leverages virtual reality (VR), physiological sensing, and adaptive simulations to enhance decision-making, stress management, and skill development for first responders. By creating realistic, high-pressure training environments, we explore how biometric feedback and AI-driven adaptation can improve situational awareness, resilience, and performance in law enforcement, firefighting, and emergency response scenarios.

Collaborators: Jennifer Lavoie, Lisa Whittingham, J&F Alliance

Keywords: Immersive, Virtual Reality, Stress, Psychophysiology, Performance, De-escalation, Firearms, Motion Capture, Adaptive Training

Robo Ludens: Games in HRI

Our Robo Ludens research explores the role of games in human-robot interaction (HRI) to foster collaboration, learning, and social engagement. By integrating adaptive gameplay, embodied systems, and interactive robotics, we design experiences where humans and robots cooperate, compete, and communicate in meaningful ways. This research advances social robotics, intergenerational play, and assistive technologies, enhancing how people interact with intelligent systems.

Collaborators: Kerstin Dautenhahn, Alex Aroyo, Shruti Chandra

Keywords: Immersive, Virtual Reality, Stress, Psychophysiology, Performance, De-escalation, Firearms, Motion Capture, Adaptive Training

Publications

• J. E. Muñoz, E. A. Bicknell, S. Mehrabi, A. Basharat, L. Middleton, S. Cao, and J. Boger, “Bridging game metrics and user perception in remote virtual reality exergames: Lessons from a COVID-19 home-based study,” Digital Health, vol. 11, 20552076251401340, 2025.

• J. E. Muñoz, S. Saleh, and N. Ramirez, “Designing interactive robots for active ageing: Co-design insights on large projection interfaces with older adults,” in Proc. Int. Conf. on Social Robotics, pp. 192–211, 2025.

• J. F. Villada Castillo and J. E. Muñoz Cardona, “Adaptive immersive virtual reality exergame for post-stroke rehabilitation: Design and implementation,” ACM Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Information Technology for Social Good, 2025.

• S. Chandra, J. E. Munoz, and J. Boger, “Creation and evaluation of a canvas to capture, visualise, and assess human-robot games,” Int. J. of Social Robotics, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 1595–1616, 2025.

• J. F. Villada Castillo, J. F. López, J. E. Muñoz, and O. Henao Gallo, “Clinical perceptions and feasibility analysis of a virtual reality game for post-stroke rehabilitation,” TecnoLógicas, vol. 27, no. 61, 2024.

• E. Sanoubari, J. E. Muñoz, A. Yamini, N. Randall, and K. Dautenhahn, “What makes an educational robot game fun? Framework analysis of children’s design ideas,” in Proc. Int. Conf. on Social Robotics, pp. 40–55, 2024.

• J. F. V. Castillo, J. E. Muñoz, D. Lopez, J. F. Lopez, and O. H. Gallo, “Exploratory analysis of game metrics of a multi-session study of a virtual reality exergame for stroke rehabilitation,” in Proc. 2024 IEEE 12th Int. Conf. on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH), 2024.

• J. F. V. Castillo, J. F. Lopez, J. E. Muñoz, and O. H. Gallo, “Exploring the feasibility of virtual reality in post-stroke rehabilitation: Medical perspectives on Motion Health VR,” in Proc. Iberoamerican Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 144–158, 2024.

• J. F. V. Castillo, M. F. M. Vega, J. E. M. Cardona, D. Lopez, L. Quiñones, O. A. H. Gallo, and others, “Design of virtual reality exergames for upper limb stroke rehabilitation following iterative design methods: Usability study,” JMIR Serious Games, vol. 12, no. 1, p. e48900, 2024.

• J. E. Muñoz, J. A. Lavoie, and A. T. Pope, “Psychophysiological insights and user perspectives: Enhancing police de-escalation skills through full-body VR training,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 15, 1390677, 2024.

• Castillo, J. F. V., Vega, M. F. M., Muñoz, J. E., Lopez, D., Quiñones, L., Gallo, O. A. H., & Lopez, J. F. (2024). Design of Virtual Reality Exergames for Upper Limb Stroke Rehabilitation Following Iterative Design Methods: Usability Study. JMIR Serious Games, 12(1), e48900.

• Muñoz, J.E., Muñoz, J. E., Ali, F., Basharat, A., Mehrabi, S., Barnett-Cowan, M., Cao, S., ... & Boger, J. (2023). Development of Classifiers to Determine Factors Associated With Older Adult's Cognitive Functions and Game User Experience in VR Using Head Kinematics. IEEE Transactions on Games. Link Pdf

• Basharat, A., Mehrabi, S., Muñoz, J. E., Middleton, L. E., Cao, S., Boger, J., & Barnett-Cowan, M. (2023). Virtual reality as a tool to explore multisensory processing before and after engagement in physical activity. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 15, 1207651. Link

• Bermúdez i Badia, S., Avelino, J., Bernardino, A., Cameirão, M. S., Muñoz, J. E., Cardoso, H., ... & Sousa, H. (2023). Development and Validation of a Mixed Reality Exergaming Platform for Fitness Training of Older Adults. In Everyday Virtual and Augmented Reality (pp. 119-145). Cham: Springer International Publishing. Link Pdf

• Pasquali, D., Kothig, A., Aroyo, A. M., Muñoz, J. E., Dautenhahn, K., Bencetti, S., & Sciutti, A. (2023, December). That's not a Good Idea: A Robot Changes Your Behavior Against Social Engineering. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (pp. 63-71). Link

• Mehrabi, S., Basharat, A., Mazen, S., Cao, S., Boger, J., Barnett‐Cowan, M., Muñoz, J.E., & Middleton, L. E. (2023). Age in Place, Move in VR: Investigating the Feasibility and Usability of a Custom‐made Virtual Reality Exergame to Promote the Well‐being of Community‐Dwelling Older Adults. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 19, e082051. Link

  
  
  

• Muñoz, J.E., Mehrabi, S., Li, Y., Basharat, A., Middleton, L. E., Cao, S., Barnnet-Cowan, M., & Boger, J. (2022). Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames for Persons Living With Dementia: User-Centered Design Study as a Multistakeholder Team During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JMIR Serious Games, 10(1), e29987. Link

• Mehrabi, S., Muñoz, J. E., Basharat, A., Boger, J., Cao, S., Barnett-Cowan, M., & Middleton, L. E. (2022). Immersive Virtual Reality Exergames to Promote the Well-being of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Pilot Study. JMIR research protocols, 11(6), e32955. Link

• Montoya, M. F., Villada, J. F. V., Cardona, J. E. M., Gallo, O. A. H., & López, J. F. (2022). Diseño contextual para la creación de videojuego basado en Realidad Virtual usado en terapia de rehabilitación física en personas con accidente cerebrovascular. Revista EIA, 19(38), 3817-pp. Link

• Muñoz, J.E., Montoya, M. F., & Boger, J. (2022). From exergames to immersive virtual reality systems: serious games for supporting older adults. In Smart Home Technologies and Services for Geriatric Rehabilitation (pp. 141-204). Academic Press. Link Pdf

• Ghafurian, M., Muñoz, J., Boger, J., Hoey, J., & Dautenhahn, K. (2022). Socially interactive agents for supporting aging. In The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents: 20 years of Research on Embodied Conversational Agents, Intelligent Virtual Agents, and Social Robotics Volume 2: Interactivity, Platforms, Application (pp. 367-402). Link Pdf

• Quintero, L., Papapetrou, P., Muñoz, J. E., De Mooij, J., & Gaebler, M. (2022, March). Excite-O-Meter: an Open-Source Unity Plugin to Analyze Heart Activity and Movement Trajectories in Custom VR Environments. In 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) (pp. 46-47). IEEE. Link Pdf

• Sanoubari, E., Cardona, J. E. M., Houston, A., Young, J., & Dautenhahn, K. (2022). Designing an Anti-Bullying Serious Game: Insights from Interviews with Teachers. In Joint International Conference on Serious Games (pp. 102-121). Springer, Cham. Link Pdf

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