Funding Entity: ADE (Agencia de Desarrollo Económico), Junta de Castilla y León (Spain).
Reference: Research Project 14/21/SA/0005
Responsible company: Ticcyl Digital S.L. (Salamanca - Spain).
Participating entity: University of Valladolid: ITAP Research Institute and Biomedical Engineering Group. “Benito Menni” Hospital Center (Valladolid - Spain).
Duration: September-2021 - December-2022
Project co-financed by the ERDF, Thematic Objective 1, which promotes technological development, innovation and quality research.
Many of the people who have suffered from the COVID-19 disease see their quality of life considerably reduced. These are people who continue to present clinical manifestations and/or persistent sequelae once the infection has passed. The prolonged stay of patients in bed and/or ICU in hospitals, with restricted neuromuscular activity due to sedation or neurological involvement and the permanence in the ICU in a certain position, makes it necessary for the patient, once the disease has been overcome, need to undergo neuromotor rehabilitation. This situation has been brought to the attention of the Benito Menni Hospital Center in Valladolid, which is the first post-Covid unit in Castilla y León and Spain, and who has diagnosed these common neuromotor problems in patients who have suffered infection by the virus.
The objective of this project is to speed up the recovery process of patients who have suffered from COVID and, as a consequence of this disease, have neuromotor sequelae that limit the mobility of their hand, which prevents them from carrying out activities of daily living (picking up a glass, opening a door, pick up a spoon, etc.).
The technical objective is to carry out the design and development of specific therapies for neuromotor problems caused by COVID, as well as the redesign and readaptation of the ROBHAND robot for this type of patient, with neuromotor sequelae caused by virus infection.
The company TICCYL, in collaboration with ITAP (Institute of Advanced Production Technologies), Research Institute of the University of Valladolid (UVa), developed a hand exoskeleton, called RobHand, through a CDTI project (Reference IDI-20170263 ), during the period January 2017 – December 2019. RobHand is an exoskeleton-type robot for the rehabilitation of hand functions through assisted active therapies, in people with neuromotor disabilities.
This project aims to redesign and readapt the RobHand robot to accelerate the recovery of the neuromotor activity of COVID patients in the field of hand mobility, due to the current need that exists in Hospital Centers for this type of solutions to accelerate recovery of these types of patients. For this, it will be necessary to design and develop specific rehabilitation therapies, adapted to the sequelae and neuromotor problems of people who have suffered from COVID, the mechanical adaptation of the RobHand robot to the needs of COVID patients and those specific therapies implemented, and the creation of a set of virtual environments with friendly therapies for COVID patients.
The fundamental part of this project will be the performance of clinical therapies in the hospital setting with patients who have suffered from COVID. These tests with patients will be carried out in healthcare and clinical settings and under real conditions. For this, this project has the essential collaboration of the Benito Menni Hospital Center in Valladolid, a center specialized in the rehabilitation of post-COVID patients, which will carry out the process of selecting patients, developing therapies and carrying out tests with patients. The Rehabilitation Unit of the Benito Menni Hospital Center in Valladolid works with patients with acquired neurological damage. Due to COVID, the “Postcovid Rehabilitation Unit” was created in 2020, which is the first unit of this type created in the Community of Castilla y León.
