Wearable robots to assist spinal injury and stroke patients

New Delhi: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), in collaboration with DRDO and IIT Delhi, is in the process of developing an indigenous wearable lower-limb robot exoskeleton to help stroke and spinal cord injury patients regain mobility and strength in their muscles.

Talking to TOI, professor Bhavuk Garg from the orthopaedic department of AIIMS, said that in the first phase, a pattern has been identified among healthy individuals and those who face problems with their lower limbs because of any kind of trauma and the same will be replicated in the wearable robot. Wearable “robot-assisted training” is quickly emerging as a method that helps improve gait rehabilitation. “We already have data of more than 100 patients,” he said.

“To improve the transparency of the robot, we studied the structure of the human body, then built our model based on a biometric design of the lower limb exoskeleton,” he said, adding that as of now, Israel- made exoskeletons cost Rs 80-90 lakh. However, indigenous robots will be available at a nominal cost.

Professor Anoop Chawla from the mechanical engineering department of IIT Delhi told TOI that they had identified what kind of muscle loading pattern was involved in a healthy person during a walk and what was the pattern among people with deformities while they walked. The robotic exoskeleton will take this information and try to assess the person with external support, so that the patient is aided in walking. “Our focus is on the exoskeleton of the lower limb to support the ankle, knee and hip joints,” he said, adding that the idea was to make it light so that people can easily use it.

Dr Garg said that millions of patients suffer from some form of paralysis either due to trauma or stroke or some neurological disorder.

According to the study, in India, approximately 1.5 million people live with spinal cord injuries. Approximately, 20,000 such cases are added every year and 60-70% are illiterate, poor villagers.