Rehabilitation: THERY robot accompanies gait training on forearm supports

It is 1.50 meters tall, weighs 60 kilograms, can reach a maximum speed of 0.8 meters per second and is called THERY. THERY is a mobile robot from the Ilmenau-based company TEDIRO, which enables patients to complete autonomous gait training on forearm supports without the assistance of a therapist.

Dr. Christian Sternitzke explains in an interview with MEDICA-tradefair.com how the idea for THERY came about, what it makes possible and what its advantages are for clinics, physiotherapists and patients.

Dr. Sternitzke, why and for what purpose did TEDIRO develop the THERY robot?

Dr. Christian Sternitzke: My colleague and co-founder Anke Mayfarth worked for many years as a physiotherapist in hospitals. There, she repeatedly had to deal with simple, repetitive movements that patients had to perform which, from a therapist's point of view, are of course important, but also a bit boring to accompany. At the same time, there was no time for other important hands-on therapies.

For this reason, we developed THERY: Our mobile robot supports physical therapists in their service delivery and allows them to outsource these repetitive activities to the THERY robot.

Our robot uses camera-based motion capture and analysis. It thus monitors exercises in real-time and provides appropriate feedback to patients. In terms of approach, THERY will successively expand its range of services and offer various exercises, also in cooperation with partners.

When was the THERY robot born?

Sternitzke: The development of THERY began in a research project in 2016. In the project, a demonstrator was created to first fundamentally test whether this approach we had planned would work. After we received a lot of positive feedback here, I founded the company TEDIRO together with Anke Mayfarth in 2020. We built up a team and developed the robot to market maturity. The robot is currently undergoing final tests before its market launch in early 2024.

Where will it be used after the market launch? In rehabilitation and physiotherapy?

Sternitzke: The robot will support physiotherapists in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics. Applications in care facilities are also conceivable in the future.

What diseases and injuries does THERYS help treat?

Sternitzke: The market launch is planned with an exercise for so-called gait training on forearm supports, which patients complete after interventions on the lower musculoskeletal system, for example, after knee or hip operations. As the range of services expands other conditions will be added, including neurological and geriatric conditions in addition to other musculoskeletal disorders.

Why is the use of the robot particularly beneficial in these areas?

Sternitzke: In many areas of physiotherapy, there are repetitive movements that can be well monitored by a robot. In some areas, such as neurology or geriatrics, the human resources are not available to provide these services. The prevailing shortage of specialists exacerbates this situation considerably.

Overall, however, physiotherapy is and remains a complex matter that always requires human intervention. However, THERY can take over partial areas and support physiotherapists so they can focus on the complex issues.

How should we imagine gait training with THERY?

Sternitzke: Therapists have the option of defining training plans via our cloud-based therapy management system and individualizing them for patients as needed. They can then give patients a chip that they can use to go to the robot to log in. THERY then knows what the training program is.

The robot gives the patients a preview of how the training program works. Then it starts: THERY asks the human to follow it. In the process, the robot records the patient's movements, evaluates them and provides feedback in real time. The training results, in turn, are stored in the therapy management system, can be viewed by the therapists after completion of the training program, and can also be exported to the clinic information system.

How can clinics benefit from THERY, where will the added value lie for them?

Sternitzke: Clinics benefit from the robot by being able to expand their range of services through robot-assisted self-training in times of shortage of specialists. THERY can also make an important contribution to safeguarding the existing range of therapies, even beyond off-peak hours, weekends and vacation periods.