From the operating room to virtual reality, here are 5 ways that people are using Leap Motion tech for medical and assistive applications.

Medical Imaging

• X-rays and MRIs play an essential role in operating rooms around the world.
• Problem: Sterility is essential in the OR. Surgeons can’t touch a computer mouse without risking cross-contamination.
• Solution: TedCas is developing a plug-and-play console to let surgeons navigate images – quickly, intuitively, and safely. The device is now in clinical trials.

Hearing Loss

• Hundreds of thousands of people use American Sign Language in their daily lives.
• Problem: From the home to the workplace and everywhere in between, deaf people face serious communication barriers.
• Solution: One of TIME Magazine’s Top 25 Inventions of 2014, MotionSavvy’s UNI is a two-way communication tool for the deaf using Leap Motion and speech technologies. Pre-orders start shipping this fall.

Hand Tremors

• Parkinson’s disease, Wilson’s disease, dystonia, and other diseases make everyday life difficult for millions of people.
• Problem: There aren’t many ways for patients and doctors to quickly and reliably track tremor progression over time.
• Solution: Developers and researchers have been experimenting with using Leap Motion technology to measure hand tremors, including a team at UCSF.

Sight Disorders

• Cross-eye and lazy eye happen when the human brain ignores input from the non-dominant eye.
• Problem: There aren’t many ways to retrain people’s brains beyond boring clinical exercises.
• Solution: A dash of gamification. Vivid Vision believes that VR and motion controls can trick the player’s brain into strengthening their weaker eye. Their technology is now rolling out to eye clinics.

Physical Therapy

• After a stroke or other crippling illness, patients have a long road to restoring normal function to their hands.
• Problem: Rehab exercises can feel unrewarding and repetitive. Patients often need to stay at large facilities because the technologies they need are expensive and difficult to set up.
• Solution: The Burke Medical Research Institute, Ten Ton Raygun, and others have designed experimental games for stroke patients using Leap Motion technology.

Further Reading and Sources

• New Stroke Therapy Uses Motion Sensor Video Game to Help Rehabilitation
• Tracking Hand Tremors with Leap Motion
• MotionSavvy: Two-Way Communication Tool for the Deaf
• Vivid Vision for Amblyopia and Strabismus
• Ten Ton Raygun’s Visual Touch Therapy
• Touchless Blue Sky Plan for Dentists
• TedCas Strides Toward the Next-Gen Operating Room
• More Healthcare Solutions from Leap Motion

Alex Colgan

Alex Colgan is the senior director of marketing and developer community at Leap Motion. By transforming how we interact with technology, he believes we can make our world feel more human.