New portable arm rehabilitation device for home therapy

A new portable arm rehabilitation robot could help patients to carry out robot-aided therapy at home, allowing them to perform intensive exercises without visiting hospitals or clinics, helping to reduce the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

Developed by scientists from NTU in partnership with clinicians and therapists from the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) Rehabilitation Centre, this compact robot called H-Man took eight years to develop and has been successfully proven in clinical trials.

Patients play various games with the robot, which comprises a large screen and a joystick-like handle connected to motors via pulleys. Afterwards it can evaluate a patient's progress and send feedback to therapists wirelessly, improving productivity for rehabilitation care.

Invented by NTU Associate Professor Domenico Campolo, the Director of the NTU Robotics Research Centre, H-Man has now been spun-off and is marketed by ARTICARES, which is incubated by NTUitive, NTU's innovation and enterprise arm.