Robotic Arm, Video Games Help Stroke Patients Recover
From: Robotics Trends - 02/27/2014
By: Cynthia Newsome

Robotic arm supports patient's arm as they sit in a chair and play a video
game with a joystick.

Robotic technology is reshaping therapy for stroke patients Saint Luke's
Hospital on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO, with the new device
called ArmeoSpring. It combines robotics and video games to help patients
rebuild their brains. Patients like Scott Norman of Johnson County, KS, are
having great success restoring movement after being paralyzed.

Patients sit in a chair where their arm is placed in the robotic arm. The
robotic arm supports the patient's arm but the patient focuses to make their
arm and hand move. There is a joystick the patient can grasp; as they
squeeze, push and pull the joystick and move their arm, they are playing a
video game. So the patient is focused on picking up fruit and moving it into
a basket or shooting silly birds. As their expertise improves, the therapist
can adjust the device to increase the difficulty of movement.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.roboticstrends.com/service_healthcare/article/robotic_arm_video_games_help_stroke_patients_recover/

Links:
ArmeoSpring (with video 6:03)
http://www.hocoma.com/products/armeo/armeospring/

ArmeoSpring Pediatric (with video 0:56)
http://www.hocoma.com/products/armeo/armeospring-pediatric/

ArmeoSpring video (6:28)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-NmOw-uY4

AremoSpring @ Aim2Walk
http://aim2walk.ca/?page_id=600