ACTIVE RELIEF

Singapore‑based startup Aitreat takes a modern approach on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with its robotic masseuse Emma, or short for expert manipulative massage automation. Launched in 2017, the robot mimics the action of a human palm and thumb to replicate the traditional Chinese therapeutic massage tui na strokes, which targets various acupoints. And this is according to the prescription of a qualified TCM physician or physiotherapist, who keys it in on to Emma’s touchscreen interface. The bot is equipped with advanced sensors to measure the stiffness of the patient’s muscles and will log all data into a server where artificial intelligence is used to compute the exact pressure that needs to be delivered during the treatment process. Aitreat’s founder Albert Zhang says: “With Emma, we can now offer a longer therapy session for patients while reducing the cost of treatment. The human therapist is then free to focus on other areas which Emma can’t attend to at the moment.”