Technologically Supported Rehabilitation of the Upper Extremities

On Thursday, October 15, as part of the ASEF Speakers Series popular science lectures, dr. Domen Novak, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Wyoming, presented a common point of robots, stroke patients and computer games. The lecture entitled Virtual Reality for Upper Limb Rehabilitation shed light on the connection between man as a patient and the therapist and auxiliary rehabilitation robots and computer games that can shorten patients ’time with their interesting content. Dr. Novak presented research in rehabilitation robotics from the very beginning in 2010 until today, which extends all the way from Slovenia and Switzerland to the USA. Research to date has focused mainly on the most effective recovery of patients after a stroke and tries to bring the monotonous repetition of movement exercises closer in the most interesting, but at the same time difficult to adapt way. The studies looked at whether patients preferred to participate or compete in computer games, the therapist-patient relationship, and possible ways to adjust exercise difficulty.

The event was part of our ASEF Speakers Series programand was mdoerated by Nina Zupančič, ASEF Fellow 2020.