Kevin Langlois and Joris De Winter of the VUB Brubotics team made the finals of the KUKA Innovation Award 2022. This year, the KUKA Innovation Award is all about medicine and healthcare. Because new technologies are playing an increasingly important role in healthcare and will be virtually indispensable in the future. Researchers, developers and young entrepreneurs from all over the world submitted their concepts for the "Robotics in Healthcare Challenge". An international jury of experts evaluated the concepts and selected our five finalists.
Robots will play an increasingly important role in rehabilitation in the future, as rehabilitation robots can provide frequent and repetitive training as well as ergonomic working conditions for the therapist. New rehabilitation strategies are needed to improve the functional outcomes of robotic therapy. The team from the VUB and imec is addressing these challenges by using the KUKA LBR Med in combination with a soft sensorized physical interface.