Medical Devices with the Human Touch

Mention the phrase "robotic arm" to most people and they envision something between the Canadarm, re-wiring satellites in space, and C3PO's rogue limb in the first Star Wars movie. But an Ontario company is bringing robotics out of space and science fiction to where it can touch the lives of those in need of a helping hand.

The path to recovery for a patient who has suffered a stroke can be a long and intensive one, involving extended rehabilitation and frequent one-on-one interaction with a therapist. A Markham-based developer of robotic and mechatronic systems, Quanser Inc., is working to ease that process and put the power of rehabilitation more fully in the patient's hand.

Quanser has prototyped and is developing an Autonomous Upper-limb Stroke Rehabilitation (AUSR) device animated by feeling-feedback technology called haptics. When the patient pushes on the robotic arm of the AUSR, he or she "feels" the movement and changing resistance of the object pictured on the video screen. This sensory feedback exercises their muscles while the artificial intelligence in the device tracks progress and presents new challenges as strength and range improves.

Anyone who has ever worked through rehabilitation knows that key to recovery is repetition. But repetition can quickly become boring, and a bored patient is more likely to stop doing the necessary exercises. The limits of boredom need never be tested with the AUSR - the sight, sound and "touch" that is accessible through the technology opens therapy to the limitless potential of virtualreality game design. As the technology takes hold in the market, it is easy to imagine the AUSR sparking a sharp rise in follow-on development of age and gender specific interfaces.

The idea for the AUSR took form when Dr. Jacob Apkarian, Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Quanser, was brainstorming with Dr. Cheryl Masanic, a head injury specialist (and his wife), about using haptics with stroke patients. This led to a conversation with Dr. Geoff Fernie at Toronto Rehab, and the momentum began to build.

Ontario Centres of Excellence - who are partnering with Quanser on a number of projects - immediately recognized the potential and helped build a research project that made sense from a business standpoint. "OCE raised the bar in terms of our own thinking about potential markets and positioning," says Paul Gilbert, CEO of Quanser Inc. The technology may have further use with people injured in car accidents or disabled from arthritis, heart disease or other conditions.

To ready the AUSR for the marketplace, a research partnership was formed between Quanser, OCE's Centre of Excellence for Communications and Information Technology, Precarn Incorporated, and researchers at Toronto Rehab. Paul Gilbert says that "Quanser is gaining valuable insights for product development by putting our device in the hands of the people working directly with stroke patients. Without OCE's support for early-stage commercial development, we would not be able to invest the time and resources to explore these new and important applications."

Improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation through the AUSR will come with the added benefit of new efficiencies for therapists, potentially reducing overall healthcare costs. Instead of the one-on-one patient/therapist model, a therapist using the intelligent technology could work with as many as four patients at the same time - this, taken together with the device's portability, can make highquality rehabilitation more accessible.

Quanser's exceptional relationship with OCE is generating technological and commercial promise in several other partnerships as well. OCE is working with HTX to support research between Quanser and McMaster University. They are exploring the use of high-rate processing hardware to increase the fidelity of haptic feeling in digital tissue modeling. OCE also fostered the company's collaboration with Seneca College for research into a specialized joystick for gaming, and another project with McMaster and Queen's is using haptics in 'mentoring' technology for teaching.

With OCE support, this innovative Ontariobased company is shaping up to gain strength in new markets and add muscle to the Ontario economy.