Robotic aid for stroke victims

November 23rd, 2006

BALTIMORE: After more than 2 1/2 years of physical therapy and electronic stimulation, stroke victim Mike Marin still couldn’t open a door with his left hand. Now, thanks to a robot, Marin can open a door and his atrophied left arm isn’t completely useless anymore.

Marin is at the forefront of what may seem an unlikely use for robots: providing the caring human touch.

For three months in rehab at a suburb north of New York, an unnamed and unlikely looking robot guided his arm repeatedly through an ordinary video game. Where normal therapy failed, the constant robot-guided repetitions worked.

“I still got a long way to go,” said the computer network specialist who had a stroke two days before his 40th birthday. “The robot really put a lot of muscle tone back in my arm.”

Source:The Times Of India