Since 2010, a senior lecturer at Ulster University, Dr Joan Condell, has been working on a robotics solution to help common joint mobility problems such as arthritis. The Ulster University research group, ActivSense, has created robotic “gloves” that come embedded with targeted sensors to pick up movement in joints. The analysis of movement is helpful to consultants working with patients with joint mobility issues. The technology helps them to diagnose joint problems which patients are suffering from, and to create a treatment plan with exercises, all dictated by the robotic glove.
Arthritis is the most common joint health complaint, but diseases like MS and diabetes can also result in lower joint mobility. The technology can be used to assist diagnosis of these diseases.
Joan is a three-time candidate for the INVENT Awards, so she’s no stranger to innovation. Her philosophy is that research and PhDs should be applied to produce real, working technologies – in other words, research should not be put on a shelf, left to gather dust. Joan has cofounded ActivSense with Dr James Connolly, research associate at Ulster University.
“Before ActivSense there was no measurement for stiffness in joints, no way to quantify it. We first started playing with gaming gloves, and even with the low number of sensors in them, they generated interesting data about the movement of hand and finger joints,” Joan said.
“We soon partnered with Science Foundation Ireland through the National Access Programme to create an agreement where Tyndall Institute in Cork manufacture the hardware in exchange for IP ownership. From that point on we were away with the job of creating purpose-built robotic, sensor-laden gloves that deliver as much medical data as possible that a consultant may want to gather.”
ActivSense is in the early stages of commercial development, and is currently funded through a range of sources in Ulster University. There are four gloves in development, a combination of exo-skeleton style metal gloves and fabric gloves that may enable more freedom of movement. Sensor strips and sensor thread are used in the making of the gloves. Beyond just diagnosing joint problems, the gloves can analyse the patient’s treatment exercises. All the data is pushed to the cloud. The gloves are wireless so the patient can do exercises from their hospital bed, and their doctor can then immediately look at the data from anywhere. A crucial aspect of the technology is that it’s self-learning, as it gets to “know” each patient and is calibrated specifically for individuals.
Joan explained what comprises ActivSense’s solution beyond just the glove. “We have a software and visualisation dashboard that we developed in-house. It enables the medical team to view patient movements and to see whether the patient has done the exercises, and done them correctly.”
Pictured are James Connolly, Ulster University, Dr. Philip Gardiner, Western Trust and Dr. Joan Condell, Ulster University.
Dr Philip Gardiner, consultant rheumatologist, has been an important advisor in ActivSense. Dr Gardiner has given access to his patients to test initial runs of the technology. Soon, two trials will get underway at Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry~Londonderry, part of the Western Health and Social Care Trust. Joan indicated that one trial will include around 30 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and another will include 40 patients with diabetes.
The markets for ActivSense are promising. The main market is clinical, but there is also a huge potential benefit in sports markets for performance monitoring. This includes golf, tennis, cricket, American football – virtually any sport where the position of an athlete’s hand on a club, racket or ball would impact their performance.
ActivSense has also been partnering with groups that can open up the US market for them – such as an MS-focused clinical group that’s interested in the technology from Cornell, NY.
I asked Joan: Should we fear the robots? I had a feeling she might say ‘no.’ She said: “We shouldn’t fear AI, but rather carefully monitor and reassess how it guides and affects our lives and chosen path. We should be aware of AI, its developments and capabilities. Human intelligence involves common sense; robots, unlike humans, do not inherently have common sense. Humans are extremely unique; we have some extreme sensory and emotional capabilities that even a very smart machine would find difficult to replicate in a small way.”
The Innovation Team at IUL have had a part to play in ActivSense’s success thus far. “At Ulster we seek to create an entrepreneurial environment that encourages and rewards the generation of new inventions and knowledge by staff and students,” said Caroline McGoran, head of investment and enterprise. “The support given to the development of ActivSense reflects our aim of facilitating the transfer of new commercially and socially important inventions and knowledge to society.”
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