Florence, (Italy) - The Biorobotics Institute at Pisa's Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is creating a gym with 'wearable robots' to help patients recover from serious neurological disorders and nerve damage resulting from strokes, sources said Monday.
A research project called 'Ronda' that will preview at the city's Internet Festival aims to set up a gym with wearable robots at the Neurorehabilitation Unit of the Cisanello Hospital and at the Versilia Hospital in Viareggio.
The gyms will offer personalised rehabilitation programmes through various methods: two wearable robotic systems for shoulder and knee movement; robotic devices to rehabilitate the hand and wrist; a new machine-human interface that allows the patient to use residual upper-limb muscle ability to control the wearable robots; and a virtual reality system to adjust the difficulty level to the patient's residual motor skills and stimulate cognitive ability. (Ansa)