Consortium: Prof. Dr. Ioannis Iossifidis (PI, consortium lead), Dr. Christian Klaes (PI), Ruhr University Bochum-Knappschaft University Hospital, Prof. Dr. Martin Tegenthoff (PI) Ruhr University- Bergmannsheil University Hospital, Dr. Corinna Weber, Snap GmbH (PI))
- Project duration: 10/2019 — 09/2022
- Funding volume: € 2,084,843
Project REXO is among the winners of the lead market health competition — Gesundheit.NRW. Quite excited to develop an adaptive soft exoskeleton as key component of a holistic rehabilitation system for arm dysfunctions.
https://www.leitmarktagentur.nrw/leitmarktwettbewerbe/gesundheit/aufruf2einreichfrist2
Impairment of arm and grip functions after various neurological diseases severely restrict the participation of the affected patients in professional and everyday life and represent a major challenge for the rehabilitation process. In order to intensify conventional therapy and thus improve rehabilitation success, high-quality, independent and everyday training is necessary. The key component is a biomechanically designed, adaptive exoskeleton for the upper extremities, which will be developed in this project and used exploratively on patients. The exoskeleton considers the individual conditions of the disease and compensates as far as necessary the dysfunction and supports the rehabilitation training by antagonistic activation. Due to intelligent sensoric and actuatoric linkage, the system always provides exactly as much support or correction as is necessary in the respective patient situation.
With the exoskeleton a holistic rehabilitation system is developed. The system includes the design and implementation of motion tasks in virtual reality, a feedback system based on biosignals and a generic decoder for invasive and non-invasive brain-computer interfaces. In the technical implementation, the soft exoskeleton combines modern, very light, resilient materials with an intelligent, adaptive control system that does not require any adjustments from the wearer. As a result, new perspectives are opening up for improved rehabilitation of arm and hand functions. This will significantly improve patient care.