IIT Madras and motion technology firm develop robots for people with impairments

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is collaborating with the motion technology firm Portescap to develop affordable medical innovation using robotics for rehabilitation. The CSR project also involves Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore.

This project, facilitated by the office of institutional advancement, IIT Madras, will focus on creating an innovative rehabilitation robot, Arm Rehabilitation Robot (AREBO), for people with arm impairments.

AREBO is a six-degrees-of-freedom robot for training individual joint movements at the shoulder and elbow for persons with neurological and musculoskeletal conditions such as stroke, arthritis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s disease, among others. The design of this robot allows it to be easily connected to either the left or right arm of a user and provides safe training of the arm.

Led by Sujatha Srinivasan, the faculty head of TTK Centre for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) at IIT Madras, and Sivakumar Balasubramanian of CMC Vellore, such innovations intend to significantly improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities. They also serve as a tool for therapists to remotely monitor performance and plan therapy accordingly.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this collaboration, Srinivasan said, “The project leverages the strengths of R2D2 in developing and taking to market, functional and affordable devices for movement disability, while also drawing from the bioengineering and clinical expertise of CMC. Research and Development costs covered through CSR support are crucial to achieve the eventual goal of taking high-quality devices to the market at affordable prices.”

Regarding the outcomes envisaged under this CSR Project, Balasubramanian added, “AREBO is the result of our approach towards simplifying rehabilitation robots, which is necessary for routine clinical use. We expect to have a simple, compact, easy-to-use, and safe robot ready for large-scale clinical trials through this collaboration. Bringing this device to the market will require understanding as to how this device fits into routine clinical practice and its added value to patients and clinicians.”