# Rehabilitation Using Community-Based Affordable Robotic Exercise Systems (Rehab CARES)

> **NIH NIH R42** · RECUPERO ROBOTICS LLC · 2021 · $256,603

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability. It is estimated that 5.8–6.5 million people currently
live with stroke related disability in the US and that this number will increase by 20.5% by 2030. The current US
health infrastructure is not prepared for these increasing numbers. Limitations in health insurance coverage and
the shortage of rehabilitation practitioners decrease access to rehabilitation. Community-based settings are
becoming viable venues for delivering long-term post-stroke care, however, they are plagued by staff with limited
expertise, low number of therapists and lack of financial resources for rehabilitation. Because of this, the quality
of care is compromised, and functional outcomes of patients are not equal to hospital-based rehabilitation
settings. We seek to develop a novel solution to this problem. Implementing affordable design is a fundamental
strategy for increasing access to rehabilitation technology for patients regardless of socio-economic status.
Doing so, decreases healthcare disparities and reduces long-term healthcare costs. We propose to use
affordable robots to improve access to quality rehabilitation care in low-resource, community-based settings. In
Phase 1, we leverage a 1 degree of freedom haptic robot with control algorithms to develop a beta version of
the robot hardware and software. The new robot have a novel end-effector to allow more diverse arm and hand
exercises, be connected to cloud-based gaming, and provide patient-specific therapy that adjusts for motor
impairment and cognitive impairment. 15 stroke patients with a wide range of motor impairment levels will
complete clinical assessments of motor and cognitive impairment followed by robot-based assessment and
therapy games. Subjects will be instrumented with sensors monitoring key upper extremity muscle activity, trunk
activity and heart rate during robot tasks. A key milestone will be to identify kinematic metrics from the robot
tasks that strongly correlate and predict clinical scores of motor and cognitive impairment. Another milestone will
to drive patient-specific strategies by adjusting the robot’s control parameters and the game parameters. In
Phase 2, we will develop the hardware to allow three haptic robots to dock (a gym) and be configured to allow
patients to play therapy games alone or collaboratively. We will test the safety and feasibility of the gym in a
community-based rehabilitation setting where stroke patients typically receive 1 hour each of physical therapy
(PT), occupational therapy (OT) and speech therapy (SLP). 36 patients will be randomized to either a robot (RT)
or a control group (CT). Both groups will receive PT and SLP, but the RT will receive the robot gym therapy
targeting the upper limb and the CT will receive a dose-matched hour of OT. Therapy will occur over 4 weeks
with two follow-up assessments. Key milestones will be to show that the RT has the same or better functional
outcom...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10256401
- **Project number:** 1R42HD104325-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** RECUPERO ROBOTICS LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHELLE J. JOHNSON
- **Activity code:** R42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $256,603
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-17 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10256401

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10256401, Rehabilitation Using Community-Based Affordable Robotic Exercise Systems (Rehab CARES) (1R42HD104325-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10256401. Licensed CC0.

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