For a better understanding of how different disorders affect motor function, a uniform, standardized and objective evaluation is a desirable goal for the clinical community. We explore the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) combined with serious gaming and free hand tracking to facilitate objective, cost-effective and patient-friendly methods for evaluation of upper extremity motor dysfunction in different patient groups. In this paper, we describe the design process of the game and the system architecture of the AR framework to meet these requirements. Furthermore, we report our findings from two pilot studies we conducted with healthy people aged over 50. First, we present a usability study (n = 5) on three different modalities of visual feedback for natural hand interaction with AR objects (i. e., no augmented hand, partial augmented hand and a full augmented hand model). The results show that a virtual representation of the fingertips or hand improves the usability of natural hand interaction. Secondly, a study about game engagement is presented. The results of this experiment (n = 8) show that there might be potential for engagement, but usability needs to be improved before it can emerge.@en

n the clinical community there is a need for assessment tools that allow for objective, quantitative and valid measures of motor dysfunction. In this paper, we report on the design and evaluation of a serious game that engages patients with Parkinson's disease in upper extremity (hand/arm) movements. The game employs augmented reality to show virtual movement targets, i.e. candies falling from a conveyor belt, and a haptic game controller to catch the candies, that is able to acquire quantitative data about the patient's movement. This paper first describes the design process of the game and the system components. Secondly, we present results of our small quantitative evaluation study (N11, age: 26–60, healthy persons) regarding the usability of the system, the task load and user experience of the game. Our findings show that the system has a relatively good usability and the game is engaging, but there is still need for technical improvement with regard to tracking the controller in 3D space.@en