VELLORE: Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have jointly developed a portable and affordable robotic device to offer physical therapy for hand movement of recovering stroke survivors.
The device, Pluto (Plug and train robot for hand neurorehabilitation), was inspired by the design of a mixer grinder, where a single motor drives multiple attachments.
Pluto employs one motor and a variety of attachments to train different hand functions of patients. It is a compact tabletop that fits into a suitcase smaller than a regular check-in luggage.
The robot is being evaluated across nine clinics in the country. More than 1,000 patients and 100 clinicians have used the robot in the past 30 months.
Next, home-based clinical studies
Pluto facilitated India’s first home-based robot-assisted therapy study where five stroke survivors successfully used the device for four weeks with promising results.
“The focus now is on conducting large-scale home-based clinical studies to assess Pluto’s effectiveness. Its simplicity, versatility, and durability make it ideal for use in various settings including hospitals, small clinics, community centres, and even in patients’ homes,” said a release from CMC.
CMC and IIT M have licensed the technology to Thryv Rehab Solutions, which will commercialise Pluto and launch it in the Indian market. CMC director Dr Vikram Mathews and IIT-M dean (IC&SR) Manu Santhanam signed the technology transfer agreement on Aug 14. The departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurological sciences, CMC and the department of mechanical engineering, IIT-M developed the robot. Sivakumar Balasubramanian from the department of bioengineering, CMC and Sujatha Srinivasan from the department of mechanical engineering, IIT-M led the project.
Original News Link
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/cmc-iit-madras-make-physiotherapy-robot-for-stroke-survivors/articleshow/112667092.cms
