Kinetic muscles

A robotic arm that can be worn at home is being developed to help stroke survivors regain the ability to reach and grasp objects and perform basic tasks such as feed themselves.

The device, built by a research team led by biomedical engineer Jiping He PhD at Arizona State University and Kinetic Muscles Incorporated (KMI), a start up biotech company, can also assess the effectiveness of the physical therapy so adjustments can be made to the regimen if necessary.

Recent research suggests that stroke survivors can recover significant use of their arms by performing repetitive motor function exercises over a period of time. This labour intensive physical therapy is expensive, however, claiming up to 4% of the US national health budget, according to the US National Institutes of Health.

"This device is intended to provide cost-effective therapy to a wider population for a longer period of time for maximum recovery of motor function," Jiping He said of the device which he has dubbed RUPERT I, for Robotic Upper Extremity Repetitive Therapy.