Robotics could help stroke patients’ rehab

A RESEARCH team at University College Dublin is working on new forms of robotics designed to help with the rehabilitation of people with injuries or serious medical conditions.

Stroke sufferers are set to benefit from stateof-the-art research into the field of rehabilitation robotics being done by scientists in UCD’s rehabilitation engineering and robotics lab, part of the College of Engineering and Architecture. These new developments could mean significantly improved quality of life for patients as well as reduced treatment times.

“Unlike many other fields of robotics, the aim of rehabilitation robotics is not to replace or augment human function directly but to assist with retraining human movement,” said Donal Holland, a lecturer and assistant professor in biomechanics at the rehabilitation engineering and robotics lab.

“This robotic assistance will help people to gain or regain independent control of their own body movements.”