KINGSTON, R.I. – Oct. 24, 2024 – The University of Rhode Island has been awarded a $500,000, three-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation for its project titled “RE-GAIN: An adaptive, medical CPS platform integrating e-textile wearables, virtual/augmented reality, and AI for stroke rehabilitation.”
The multinational project focuses on designing medical rehabilitation that uses cyber physical systems technology particularly targeted to stroke survivors under age 65. The focus is on restoring the patient’s motor and cognitive ability for reemployment.
Multinational Effort
In January 2023, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology of the government of India signed an implementation arrangement on research cooperation. The agreement encourages collaboration between U.S. and Indian researchers on a global issue.
In hearing this call to action, URI biomedical engineering assistant teaching professor Dhaval Solanki reached out to researchers he knows in India as well as to his URI colleague Kunal Mankodiya, a biomedical engineering professor who Solanki has co-directed URI’s Wearable Biosensing Lab with for nearly four years. Both researchers are from India and know the importance of collaboration on projects that address a global need.
Mankodiya will lead the research as the primary investigator in collaboration with Solanki, along with URI health sciences assistant professor Susan D’Andrea and URI clinical associate professor Anne-Marie Dupre, an expert in neurological physical therapy. They united a team of multidisciplinary experts from the U.S. and India involving four institutions across both countries to write the proposal.
“Upon receiving the news of the proposal being accepted, we were thrilled and felt a deep sense of accomplishment,” Mankodiya said. “This project represents an incredible opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of stroke survivors. We are excited to work together, exchange knowledge, and develop innovative rehabilitation technologies that are not only advanced, but realistic and practical for making a positive impact in the world.”
Team of International Experts
Mankodiya has vast experience developing e-textile wearables integrated with medical cyber physical systems, systems that integrate computation and physical processes with embedded computers and networks to monitor physical components. His past research, including an NSF Career award to translate smart electronic textile technologies to fill the need for telemedicine, provides background research to expand upon. On a personal level, he’s also had a close family member experience a stroke and the subsequent effects, so the project is especially meaningful for him.
Solanki works in electrical and biomedical engineering with experience developing physiologically controlled rehabilitation platforms for post-stroke patients. Past research has involved developing virtual reality-based environments integrated with cyber-physical technology for training patients with movement disorders.
D’Andrea is a biomedical engineer specializing in musculoskeletal biomechanics and has previous experience working with stroke patients and developing VR-based solutions for post-stroke patients. “The collaboration between biomedical engineering and health sciences is fundamental for enabling enhanced rehabilitation tools for recovering motor skills. Integrating engineering innovation with clinical expertise creates more effective and personalized health care solutions,” said D’Andrea.
She will work closely with Dupre, a clinical faculty member in the department of physical therapy at URI and a physical therapist at Kent Hospital. Her profession involves motor and cognitive assessments of stroke patients. She will assist in recruiting study participants. She will also establish an environment for testing the new technologies.
In India, assistant professor Deepesh Kumar at Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, a biomedical engineering expert on developing virtual-reality-based platforms for stroke rehabilitation, will lead the project. Kumar, Solanki and Mankodiya have collaborated previously through a student exchange and co-mentored a master thesis student from the institute.
“RE-GAIN emphasizes international academic exchange and skill development, offering research opportunities and student exchanges between India and the USA. This collaboration is already fostering successful partnerships, with graduate students benefiting from research internships across institutions,” said Kumar.
Kumar will work alongside his colleague Jack Fredo, a computer scientist who has acquired a strong background in neuro-informatics (brain network connectivity estimation methods), machine learning and high complexity algorithms. They plan to develop several VR/AR-based fine motor rehabilitation tasks to maintain the required balance between engaging VR/AR tasks and their therapeutic value for fine motor rehabilitation.
Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, electrical engineering professor Uttama Lahiri is an expert in VR-based human computer interaction used in affective computing, eye tracking and physiology-based modeling techniques. She will apply this expertise to the eye-engagement of this specific VR technology.
“This project has a wide spectrum of components starting from hardware design, virtual reality-based stimulus presentation having elements of tapping physiological signals from brain, eyes, etc., along with implementing such a platform in a study with post-stroke patients. Execution of the entire project will see a research collaboration between the two nations. I am happy to pitch in the part on the gaze-related engagement detection and seeing its implications within the broader scope of this collaborative project,” said Lahiri.
Assistant professor Shubhendru Pandey, India Institutes of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, will help design virtual reality tasks and help conduct a feasibility human study on stroke survivors of the technology.
The NSF-Department of Science and Technology India international collaboration in healthcare technology is paving the way for more innovative solutions in medical rehabilitation globally. This partnership will allow students and engineering and clinical experts in the field from the U.S. and India to collaborate and exchange knowledge. The U.S. researchers receive funding from NSF, and India researchers receive funding from India’s Department of Science and Technology.
The Project
RE-GAIN will utilize smart gloves for upper limb rehabilitation. For stroke survivors, the role of feedback and stimulation is increasingly recognized as a crucial component in reconditioning functional capabilities. This approach helps in re-establishing the neural pathways that control muscle movements and coordination. The aim of the smart glove is to offer visual cueing, feedback and stimulation to promote fine motor skills by integrating sensors in the glove to recognize movements. Solanki will develop this closed-loop sensory feedback in the gloves by integrating visual cueing and haptics systems. Together, the team will validate the smart textile gloves for fine-motor rehab tasks.
In order to work together from afar, primary investigators will meet bi-weekly via videoconference to discuss the overall progress with research. The team will have monthly progress meetings and plan to have the India team visit URI for two weeks in the first year, and the U.S. team visit the collaborators in India for two weeks in the third year. These exchange visits are aimed towards interactive experiences to solve research challenges and discover cross-disciplinary innovation.
Critical Global Issue
Approximately 15 million people suffer a stroke annually around the globe, among which 5 million suffer mortality and 10 million suffer disabilities, making it the second leading cause of death and disabilities across the world. A quarter of individuals who suffer a stroke are under the age of 65 years and up to 44 percent are unable to return to work. The broader anticipated outcome of this research lies in its potential to significantly reduce the disability burden and economic costs associated with stroke and stroke rehabilitation.
The RE-GAIN project addresses a critical global health issue with a staggering economic burden, costing around $34 billion annually in the U.S. alone, and considerable expenses are incurred per stroke episode in countries like India, emphasizing the urgency for effective rehabilitation solutions. RE-GAIN’s focus on developing a medical rehabilitation cyber physical system is innovative and timely.
“Leading an international team of researchers to shape and realize this project idea has been a remarkable journey, and the opportunity to work with such a dynamic group over the next three years is truly exhilarating. The impact this collaboration will have on stroke rehabilitation in both the USA and India is substantial, and fostering this kind of international partnership is an achievement I am greatly proud of,” said Solanki.
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