ROBAR

ROBAR is a Dutch Robotics project designed to help patients who suffered a stroke with arm rehabilitation. Robot arm support can automate treatment, allowing patients to work on their own rehabilitation.

When people suffer from a stroke, a fairly large number of patients suffer from impaired motor function of an arm as a result. Losing function in an arm means that it becomes a lot more difficult to do the daily activities around the house that everyone takes for granted. In the last decade, the development of robot support arms has become more and more favorable in recovering function to the arm, and the future looks bright for stroke patients.

Robot arm support can automate treatment, which means that a therapist can work with multiple people at the same time and that people can also work on their own rehabilitation. This efficient form of rehabilitation is very suitable in a time where the healthcare system is under a large financial strain. Due to all these advantages, the Robar project was launched to go one step further in the rehabilitation process.

The project entails the implementation of the Freebal arm support system and the ArmeoBoom system into 7 different rehabilitation facilities across the Netherlands. The ArmeoBoom, for example, uses arm support in combination with games to keep patients motivated to work on their own recovery. The ArmeoBoom was succesfully implemented in these facilities and the project is showing good results.