Project Description: 

GaitKeeper is a virtual reality (VR) game that offers a unique alternative to traditional gait training methods, such as physical therapy. Interfaced with a VR headset and foot sensors, the game is tailored for ease of use by people over the age of 65 who have gait disabilities. Additional users considered for this project are caretakers and family (of the primary user), who may also interact with the game and benefit from its user-intuitive interface. The goal of this project is to provide an at-home, accessible, and effective gait training program that improves select metrics of the gait cycle over time, without the presence of a physical therapist. The game works by presenting obstacles in the user’s path which they must avoid to earn “points”. These obstacles are spawned in such a way that stepping over them results in the user emulating established healthy values for step width, step height, and stride length. The average cost of one physical therapy session without insurance is $75 and approximately 4.29 million Americans over the age of 65 are currently suffering from some form of gait disability.5,6 Because the ultimate goal for this project is to replace the traditional regiment of 3 physical therapy sessions per week, the team estimated the market size as the cost to replace this regiment for the entire target market for a single year, which amounts to approximately $50 billion.