Research
involving RAT group's Prof Gail Mountain and Dr Nasrin Nasr is featured in Business
Weekly on the 11thMarch, 2015:
University of Hertfordshire scientists are part of
a European team that have developed a prototype of a robotic glove which stroke
suffers can use at home to support rehabilitation.
At the
chronic stages of stroke, patients are not likely to be receiving treatment but
they continue to live with some impairments - the scientific team believes the
glove can provide therapies to target these impairments.
Dr
Farshid Amirabdollahian, an expert in rehabilitation robotics and assistive
technologies and a senior lecturer in adaptive systems at the University of
Hertfordshire’s School of Computer Science co-ordinated the €4,643,983 project
called SCRIPT (Supervised Care and Rehabilitation Involving Personal
Tele-robotics).
Over the
past three years the team developed two prototype robotic gloves, which
facilitate repetitive movement and exercise of the hand and wrist. The device
also records the patient's performance and sends this to a therapist for
tailoring treatment remotely and arranging follow-up.
Dr
Amirabdollahian said: "This project focused on therapies for stroke patients
at home. Our goal was to make motivating therapies available to people to
practise at home using this system, hoping that they have a vested interest to
practise and will do so. We tried this system with 30 patients and found that
patients indeed practised at home, on average around 100 minutes each week, and
some showed clinical improvements in their hand and arm function".
The aim
of the project was to provide an educational, motivational and engaging
interaction, making a more positive therapy session for the patient, while
providing feedback to them and their health care professionals. The project was
partially funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme.
The team
is now considering a follow-up project to improve recovery outcomes, while also
searching for funding to turn this prototype into a product for home
rehabilitation.
The team
has passed the proof-of-concept stage and is now looking at getting the glove
into production.
Project
partners are: R.U. Robots Limited (UK), University of Sheffield (UK),
Universiteit Twente (Netherlands), Roessingh Research and Development BV
(Netherlands), MOOG BV (Netherlands), San Raffaele S.p.A (Italy). and User
Interface Design GMBH (Germany).
See the
device in action on YouTube and visit the project's website to find out more - http://scriptproject.eu/
- See
more here.
Visual Vertical testing certainly warrants additional investigation and could represent an inexpensive, easily performed method by which to quantify verticality disorders post stroke. stroke rehabilitation program
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