The three-month trial, which was completed in Vienna, targeted individuals with upper limb impairments.
These affect approximately80%of acute stroke survivors and are a common side effect of brain injuries.
Improving arm function in such cases involves practicing task-specific exercises repeatedly.
But often, lack of motivation or visual progress indicators can negatively affect prescribed, self-managed rehabilitation routines.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
However, without supervision it can be challenging for survivors to stay motivated.
The robot then processes the data to interpret the patients intended movements during different exercises.
This enables them to provide real-time motivation and feedback, and even mimic movements to demonstrate an exercise.
The robot quickly learned how each individual reacted and was very effective in understanding intention and mimicking movements.
The patients all said interacting with the robot was a motivational experience, Baillie told TNW.
The hope is that we can organise trials in Scottish hospitals to further develop and improve the technology.
Were having very positive conversations with the NHS in this regard.
The potential of robot coaches in stroke rehabilitation has been attracting variousresearch effortsin the past couple of years.
Story byIoanna Lykiardopoulou
Ioanna is a writer at TNW.
With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
