Stroke victim Mike Marin still couldn’t open a door with his left hand, even after getting physical therapy and electronic stimulation for 2 1/2 years. But now, thanks to a robot, Marin can open a door and his atrophied left arm isn’t completely useless anymore.
Marin was at a rehab for three months at a suburb north of New York, where an unnamed robot guided his arm repeatedly through an ordinary video game. The constant robot-guided repetitions did the trick for Marin where other therapies failed. Marin is experiencing a what may seem an unlikely use of robots – that of providing the caring human touch.
The New York City Computer Network Specialist said, “I still got a long way to go, the robot really put a lot of muscle tone back in my arm”.
Marin, is one among of the 300 stroke patients in experimental studies with a robot that’s a cross between an exercise machine and video game. And it has been observed that many of these patients, who wouldn’t normally get better, showed significant improvement with the use of robot.
In various experiments across the country, robots are now providing the caring human touch to patients such as stroke victims, autistic children, and the elderly.
We just hope robots continue to help such patients and make this world a better place to live in. Ah….talk about the boons of technology….!!!
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