Robot ‘coaches’ help guide self-managed rehabilitation programmes

The VITALISE international pilot study, led by the National Robotarium's Human Robot Interaction (HRI) team, has developed a system in which socially assistive robots communicate with a patient using a headset that detects the brain’s neural activity.

Developed in partnership with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the robot can process these signals to understand the user’s intended movement, thereby being able to provide real-time verbal motivation, visual mimicry, and feedback, as they complete specific movements.

The research aims to make it easier and more engaging for patients to adhere to their prescribed self-managed rehabilitation routines by providing personalised support based on their individual needs, cognitive capability, and exercise pace.

According to the National Robotarium researchers, around 80 per cent of acute stroke and brain injury survivors have an upper limb impairment, limiting the movement of the arm, which can often be long-term and has the potential to significantly affect an individual’s standard of independence.

Improving functions after cognitive injuries requires task-specific repetitive exercise, however 60 per cent of stroke survivors may suffer from forgetfulness and only 31 per cent complete their prescribed rehabilitation routines.

Over the three-month study, the VITALISE team worked with 16 stroke and brain injury survivors and six therapists to test the system’s ability to understand user intention and provide personalised motivation. Specifically, the team explored whether the robot could detect a person’s intended exercise movement using brain signal data and then mimic that motion in real-time to demonstrate an exercise.

Through questionnaires and interviews, the researchers also gathered feedback on factors like the robot’s success at motivating exercise over time, building user trust, and overall ease of use.

In a statement, Markus Garschall, a scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Center for Technology Experience, and vice president of AAL AUSTRIA, said: “Especially in the field of eHealth, co-design methods are very helpful and work well. It was important for us to examine the user experience as well as the feasibility of the approach for both people with hemiparesis and physiotherapists.

"At the same time, the transnational collaboration with scientists from Scotland was also very inspiring; we need much more European cooperation and exchange, especially in the healthcare sector.”

The pilot study was funded under the European Union’s Horizon2020 Research and Innovation Programme as part of the larger VITALISE project for advancing rehabilitation infrastructure.