Research team creating 'intelligent' technologies

From a high-tech fall-detection system to a prompting device that guides people through tasks of daily living, Toronto Rehab’s new Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Team is developing advanced technologies to help people live more independently – and ease the demands on caregivers.

“Older people and those with disabilities want to remain in their communities and they do better in their own homes,” says Toronto Rehab-University Health Network scientist and Team Co-Leader Dr. Alex Mihailidis. “Cutting-edge technologies can help make this possible.”

The new team is developing assistive and rehabilitation technologies that use advanced concepts from the fields of computer science and engineering. Take, for instance, their emergency response and fall-detection system, which uses artificial intelligence to detect if someone has fallen. It ‘learns’ and tracks the actions of the user – and can interact with the person and call for help. The system is now in the final stages of development. Once an industrial partner is secured, it will take a year or two to commercialize.

Dr. Mihailidis says the team is also working on technologies that can deliver safe and effective patient care, while supporting caregivers and clinicians in their work. One example is the ‘rehab robot’. Stroke patients require extensive practice to rebuild upper-body strength and motor skills. Therapists typically spend a lot of time guiding patients through repetitive exercises. But with this new robotic device, patients will be able to do these exercises on their own at any time of day – in a hospital room or even at home.

The new device uses haptic (or sensation) technology so that users actually ‘feel’ resistance when they push on a robotic arm. With the benefit of artificial intelligence, the system can adapt to users’ needs, adjusting exercises when necessary. Clinical testing will take place this summer  and the device could be commercially available in mid-2013.

The team is also developing technologies to help people get around, including an anti-collision powered wheelchair for nursing home residents with dementia. Other areas of work include devices to assist older adults with dementia in the home, and automated diagnostic tools, like a smart walker that can monitor a patient’s daily activity.

“Simply put, our goal is to improve the delivery and outcomes of rehabilitation and healthcare delivery, and to help people with disabilities and older adults live more independently,” says Dr. Mihailidis, who leads the team with Dr. Jesse Hoey of the University of Waterloo.

The team is unusual because it brings together computer scientists, engineers and rehabilitation scientists, says Dr. Mihailidis. The scientists are based at the University of Toronto (U of T), York University, University of Waterloo and University of British Columbia.

Toronto Rehab’s new iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research provides a state-of-the-art setting for their research, while other work is carried out at U of T’s Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab.

Dr. Mihailidis holds the Barbara G. Stymiest Chair in Rehabilitation Technology Research at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute / University of Toronto.