As a part of the Health Care & IT master’s studies, all students have the opportunity to select a project to work on for the next two years. We, Anna and Laura, have decided to work on the “LEXO project”. LEXO is an end-effector robotic gait trainer developed and manufactured by Tyromotion. This device is used for rehabilitation of the lower extremities as it is able to move the patient’s legs, following a walking pattern. In our project, we had the opportunity to work with one of the first prototypes ever created and explore gait training with its many technological aspects and challenges.
One great part of the project is the close cooperation with Tyromotion, an Austrian company specialising in developing innovative rehabilitation technologies. This gave us the possibility to build a closer connection to the manufacturer and even visit their headquarters in Graz. The unique opportunity to look behind the curtain and to talk directly to the developers gave our research a completely new dimension.
Our master’s studies are slowly coming to the end, however, our work with LEXO is far from over, as we have both decided to base our master’s thesis on gait therapy. I, Anna, would like to expand on what we know about LEXO by performing data analysis, comparing gait in LEXO with a normal treadmill, by studying the muscle activity during the therapy using additional tools, such as EMG sensors. Laura will focus on applying gamification to a typical occupational therapy exercise to make the rehabilitation more engaging for the patient and thus improve their rehabilitation. For instance, EMG sensors can be applied to the lower leg muscle and used as a game controller to train to lift the forefoot, improving the therapy for certain gait disorders.
Yours,
Anna & Laura
