iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research

Toronto Rehab is home to one of the world’s most advanced rehabilitation research facilities. The iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research brings together the brightest research minds and state-of-the-art technology. It is a unique space where ideas can be cultivated and tested in a real-life setting. New assistive technologies and treatments are developed here to enhance the lives of older people and those with disabling injury or illness.

Until now, researchers have lacked facilities where they can safely study how adults with disabilities interact with their environment. By creating real-life conditions, the iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research enables researchers to deliver practical new therapies and well-designed products.
 
Located in the heart of Canada’s ‘Discovery District’ in downtown Toronto (MAP), the iDAPT Centre is a $36-million initiative. When fully operational in 2011, it will consist of 12 cutting-edge labs, workshops, and other research spaces. Many iDAPT Centre facilities are already open.

Built in collaboration with the University of Toronto, the iDAPT Centre is a thriving research centre where researchers team up with investigators from top academic institutions in Canada, the U.S., and throughout the world. Scientists work alongside clinicians, students, consumers, engineers, industrial designers and in partnership with industry.

A world first

The centrepiece of the iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research is the Challenging Environment Assessment Lab (CEAL). This huge subterranean research lab is located beneath Toronto Rehab’s University Centre. CEAL features the world’s first hydraulic motion simulator that can mimic everyday environmental challenges faced by older people and those with disabling illness and injury. The simulator, now being installed, has different chambers that can be lifted on and off the base to generate snow and ice, different motions, slopes and terrain.

Scientists will use this lab to safely and accurately measure the difficulties encountered in the real world, and to evaluate the impact of new treatments, devices or technologies developed at Toronto Rehab.

Extraordinary research environments

The iDAPT Centre includes labs to study sleep, stroke, mobility and biomechanics, to name but a few, and workshops to develop assistive technologies for the home. Many labs and workshops are operational, including:

Controlled Climate Performance Lab
Communication Function Lab
Rehabilitation Engineering Lab
Sleep Lab
Home Lab
Care Lab
Falls Lab
Swallowing /Rehabilitation Research Lab
Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab (IATSL)
Rapid Prototyping Workshop
Electronics and Instrumentation Development Workshop
Research and Design Studio
Mechanical Workshop

In all, the iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research consists of more than 65,000 square feet of newly created or renovated research space at Toronto Rehab’s University and Lyndhurst Centres, and the Rehabilitation Sciences building of the University of Toronto.