Remote collaboration within a Mixed Reality rehabilitation environment : The usage of audio and video streams for mixed platform collaboration

Abstract: This thesis investigates methods for remote collaboration and communication within a Mixed Reality (MR) rehabilitation environment. Based on the research on remote communication methods and an interview with an occupational therapist with previous experience in MR rehabilitation, a video and audio stream communication method was chosen to be implemented. The implementation consists of two applications, one patient application developed for HoloLens 2 and one therapist application for Android devices. The latter was tested on professional occupational therapists to investigate the feasibility of the method.  The result of the test indicated that the general attitude toward remote rehabilitation was positive. However, the chosen method did not allow the therapist to see the patient's face and surroundings which was a problem for a majority of the test participants. The cognitive workload for the therapist when communicating with the patient was in magnitude to similar tasks and the application was relatively easy to navigate.