Application of eXtended Reality in the Context of Industry 5.0: A Technological Framework for Prevention and Recovery Based on the Action-Observation Paradigm

In the era of Industry 5.0, the synergy between humans and technologies has become one of the key elements both to pursue the needs for an agile production and deal with the necessity of ensuring worker health and wellbeing. In this context, the eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, such as Mixed Reality (MR), have been representing fundamental tools to improve both synergetic cooperation within the industrial setting, provide support in assessing and managing risk exposure within the working environment, allow proper training to reduce those risks, ensure effective rehabilitation track after the onset of the disorders. Within this latter context, Virtual Reality (VR) has been successfully used in providing Action Observation Treatment (AOT), a complementary rehabilitative approach that is able to improve and/or speed up functional recovery thanks to the exploitation of the “mirror” mechanism via proper visual stimuli. This study aimed at taking the advantage of the potential of the integration between MR and AOT under the Industry 5.0 umbrella, by addressing not only the needs for effective rehabilitation among working population but also the possibility of reducing the risk exposure - and thus preventing disorder onset - by promoting correct motor behaviors via implicit training. In order to achieve this goal a technological and methodological framework is here presented.