NEW INITIATIVES FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND ROBOTIC REHABILITATION: SANT’ANNA SCHOOL INSTITUTE TECIP RECEIVES FUNDING FROM INAIL (ITALIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK)
INAIL (Italian national institute for health and safety at work) recognizes the need for partnerships in preventing work-related illnesses and injuries. To address workplace hazards through research activity, INAL announced funding of 800,000 euros for the Sant’Anna School, Tecip Institute for Communication, Information and Perception Technology supporting the development of new solutions that focus on preventing workplace hazards and assistive technologies for physical rehabilitation.
“Motion base lifting platform simulator” is a two-year project coordinated by Massimo Bergamasco, professor of applied mechanics. The VR simulator can be used for (aerial) works or situations when it is required high precision motion and extended range of translations. The virtual reality equipment simulator is designed for operator training within a wide range of operational scenarios and developed through the collaborative guidance of the Department for Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pisa.
“Respiratory personal protective equipment enabling situational awareness and biometric data transmittance in real-time for identifying health hazards” is a two-year project coordinated by Franco Tecchia, a researcher in Information Elaboration Systems. Full face and respiratory protection to adverse health effects are achieved by wearing a head-mounted near-eye displays AR face shield that detects and transmits spatial information, environmental conditions and biometric measurement to users exposed to hazards within emergency response scenarios.
“RoboGYM: robot assisted therapy for arm and shoulder motor function” is a three-year rehabilitation robotics project. The robotic tool will assist clinicians in promoting rehabilitation and restorative therapies of upper limb to augment patients’ functional abilities. Sant’Anna School professor Antonio Frisoli will participate in the RoboGYM project under the supervision of IIT (Italian Institute of Technology) researchers. Robotic rehabilitation treatment paradigm involves helping individuals regain or improve their physical function and properly interact with the environment through robotics training and functional electrical stimulation. A response to treatments using shoulder/elbow robotics and wrist/hand complex functional tasks is investigated in view of the increased demand for rehabilitation services associated with the population aging.
