NTU researchers use robotics to offer stroke patients a helping hand

What exactly is your doctor and therapist doing to bring back your hand functions?
I have 144 posts on the hand, 44 posts on glove, and  40 posts on fingers.
 

1.  How about the PossessedHand?

2.  Or maybe the Mozart glove?

3.  Or the Music glove?  

4.  Or the Gloreha(R) hand rehabilitation glove?

5.  Vibrating Glove May Enhance Sense of Touch

6.   EnableTalk, a Synchronous Interpreter for Sign Language

7.   Wireless Electronic Glove Helps Improve Motor Skills of Spinal Cord Injury Victims

8.   Ghost Smart Sensor Glove Coaches Blind Athletes (video)

9.   Rome doctors use robotic glove, videogame on stroke patients

10.  Cable Actuated Exomusculature Glove for Stroke Rehabilitation and Assistance

11.   Robo-Gloves to Aid Stroke Victims

12.   Mechanical glove to aid stroke victims

13.   Stroke rehab glove combines mental practice and muscle stimulation to improve hand function

14.   Mending the brain with a mechanical glove

15.   Robotic Glove Helps Stroke Survivors Regain Movement

16.    This Smart Glove Speeds Rehabilitation Of Stroke Patients 

17.    This Smart Glove Will Speed Up Your Stroke Recovery

18.    The RELEAS Splint: For Some Stroke Patients, It Can Mean a New Lease on Life

19.  Post-stroke Hand Rehabilitation Using a Wearable Robotic Glove

The latest one here:

NTU researchers use robotics to offer stroke patients a helping hand

SINGAPORE: Physical therapy is one important step towards recovery for stroke victims. To offer patients a helping hand, a group of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) researchers has engaged the help of robotics.
They have developed the “H-man”, a robot that helps stroke patients relearn their movements through a simple computer game. It aims to be the first low-cost and portable robotic solution for stroke rehabilitation in Singapore.
“We want to bring these robots to homes and community centres, where you can have multiple stations for patients to play, literally, with other patients or therapists,” said Associate Professor Dominico Campolo. “Basically, you can monitor the patients from the hospital. We are trying to decentralise healthcare."
Some hospitals already use robots in stroke therapy, but Assoc Prof Campolo said the “H-man” is a cheaper alternative. Regular robots cost about S$200,000, while the “H-man” costs 20 to 25 per cent of that price.
Channel NewsAsia understands that the team will form a start-up by 2017, to commercialise the technology.
The “H-man” is one of the latest human robotics projects at NTU. Its researchers have delved into the area for the past few years. Recently, they have taken it a step further. The university signed a formal agreement with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA) during President Tony Tan Keng Yam's state visit to Italy in May, to further research in areas like robot-assisted stroke therapy and surgery.
"NTU is very strong in this area,” said NTU’s Professor Louis Phee. “SSSA is also a leader in this area in Europe, so I feel it makes sense for both universities to get together to do even more cutting-age research with the common goal to improve healthcare."
Prof Phee has developed the Endomaster, an endoscope with two robotic arms attached. Doctors can control the arms through two joysticks.
"These joysticks, just like a video game, will pick up the movements of your arms,” he explained. “And the view you see here will be the actual endoscopic view inside the patient's intestines. By manipulating the joystick, the two arms will move according to your hand movement. The left arm is fashioned as a grasper, where you can pick up tissue. You can use the right arm to slice away tissue.”