Robot, which will help in the rehabilitation of patients suffering, for example, from cerebral palsy, has been developed by Grzegorz Piątek, graduate of AGH University of Technology. For now, the device is used by two boys, but the author has already started working on a version adapted for adult patients. "Foreign rehabilitation devices for patients with cerebral palsy can cost about a million zlotys. Besides, the equipment is very heavy, bulky and rather crude, and therefore unattainable for most people. They are used almost non-stop in health facilities and rehabilitation clinics" - said Grzegorz Piątek.

Meanwhile, Piątek's robot can cost as much as middle-class car. It is small and handy, easy to use at home and transport.

The device user fastens a special harness attached at the hip belt, which relieves the joints of the lower limbs of the user. The robot starts after selecting a program on an installed touch panel. "Pressing the button starts the program assigned to the corresponding sequence of +mechanical limb+ movement, which in turn moves the patient's legs" - wrote Friday.

Any program stored in the memory of the robot can be selected, allowing the user to do squats, leg swing, "bicycle", and move with the maximum or minimum speed for the selected movement. "It could be about anything, except maybe splits" - said the designer. The device is protected against power interruptions or sudden surges. If, for example, for some reason leg is in an unusual position, power will also be automatically cut off.

Grzegorz Piątek constructed his robot for specific persons: few years old twins with cerebral palsy. Importantly, the constructor said, the device grows with them. "All part have variable length and are designed for significant growth, taking into account that the boys will weigh twice as much as now. They are designed for at least two years of use" - said the scientist.

How did the boys get this rehabilitation equipment? The constructor and the father of the twins work in different branches of the same company. Piątek read about the children on a website prepared by their father. He found a link in a letter asking for a donation for sick children. "That was how I learned about the boys and decided to contact their parents" - said Piątek.

At the time, Piątek was preparing for his Master's thesis, in which he intended to build an exoskeleton, a robot to increase human muscle power. "But figured I could +kill two birds with one stone+: obtain a degree and help someone. I came up with the idea of a rehabilitation robot" - explained Piątek.

The unit built for the boys will not be improved. "It is a prototype, a version to learn from. I have a new robot design that will be at least a class better than the previous one. It can be improved so that it is suitable for adults and allows the rehabilitation of not only the legs, but also the arms. There could be, for example, versions for users in two age groups, 7 to 15 years and over 15" - said the scientist.

He stressed that his intention is that the device is as cheap as possible. "I already have offers from companies interested in cooperation, but I understand from our conversations that above all they want to profit, and my priority is to help the sick" - he said.

Source: PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Ewelina Krajczyńska

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