An innovation to enable hand-movement for paralysis patients, authored by three engineering students, two of them from Kozhikode, has been selected for the students’ paper contest of the Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2015) under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to be held at Seattle, Washington, USA, from October 8 to 11.
The paper on the ‘Motorised Hand Rehabilitation Device’ by R. Rahul, R. Aswathi, and Ameena Yari Mujeebulla, is one of the top five papers short-listed for presentation during the conference, said an official invitation letter sent by the contest wing of the IEEE Conference to the students. Of the five papers, three will be selected for cash awards during the conference, said the letter.
Rahul and Yari are former students of the KMCT College of Engineering Kozhikode, while Aswathi, from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, is an engineering graduate from the Indian Engineering College, Vadakkangulam, Tamil Nadu.
They are currently pursuing their M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering at the Vellore Institute of Technology, and were guided for the project by J.B. Jeeva, Assistant Professor of School of Bioscience and Technology, VIT University.
The device, for which clinical study had been conducted “successfully,” is designed with an aim of minimising the difficulty faced by people affected by paralysis to enable their hand-movements even without the help of physiotherapists, said Mr. Rahul. “It has been designed as a portable device which can be used by the patient at his or her convenience at their homes,” he said.
The device, according to him, has its thrust on the rehabilitation of hands because they play an important role in making human beings distinct from other animals. “By rehabilitating the hand, a person, even if he is confined to a wheelchair, can do away with a lot of help from others,” said Mr. Rahul, who had been one of the Student Ambassadors of Google from the country during 2013-14. “The device, in other words, will be like a permanent physiotherapist at home,” he said.
The team has already initiated the procedures for obtaining patent for the product. “It can be manufactured commercially and introduced to the market for less than Rs.3,000,” said Mr. Rahul.
