Stroke, the Alex robot supplied to the IRCCS San Raffaele technology gym allows patients to resume moving their arms
Is called Alex. It is the new robot in the house San Raffaele to expand the robotic equipment of the technological gym of theIRCCS Roman. It is a bilateral exoskeleton for the upper limb, a device that wraps both arms of the patient affected by stroke, guiding him in movements that reproduce, thanks to a virtual reality system, situations of everyday life.
“We are one of the few Italian centers highly specialized in neurorehabilitation to use ALEx RS Wearable Robotics“, explains Marco Franceschini, Coordinator of the activities of Clinical Research in Neuromotor Rehabilitation dell’San Raffaele Research Institute. “The robot is made up of two independent symmetrical arm exoskeletons, one for the left arm and the second for the right arm. It provides a high intensity and frequency of rehabilitation treatment, with the possibility of continuous monitoring of performance also through movement biomarkers that allow you to customize the treatment according to the needs of each individual patient “.
Therefore, an aid towards the full recovery of the motor capacity of the arm and thanks to which therapists can make use of a personalized approach on the individual patient with monitorable progress and a system of virtual reality completely sensorized. This allows the robot to feel even the slightest pressure from the patient, thus helping him in repeated movements even when the motor skills of the arms are clearly reduced.
It also allows the recording of movements and their active repetition, the possibility of motor gestures “At the mirror“to use the healthy limb functionality on the hemiplegic limb and a platform of exergames to make therapy sessions more compelling and engaging.
Stroke: “Advanced mechatronics is part of a project for an integrated platform for posture rehabilitation”
The implementation of the robotic gym of the Roman IRCCS through Alex is part of the larger project “Advanced mechatronics for humanization in assistance and personalization of care: an integrated multidomain approach for the assessment and rehabilitation of patients with stroke in the sub-acute phase” promoted by MEBIC inter-university consortium (Medical and Experimental BioImaging Center), dall’San Raffaele Telematic University of Rome and fromUniversity of Rome Tor Vergata, thanks to the financing of the Rome Foundation.
“Started at theIRCCS San Raffaele Rome” need l’ing. Francesco Infarinato, Head of the study, “proposes the implementation and validation of an integrated platform of advanced mechatronics for the rehabilitation of posture and control of the lower and upper limbs, and for the prediction of rehabilitation outcomes through the advanced multidomain analysis of electrophysiological, biomechanical, clinical and functional data “.