Objective to offer the most suitable technology for the patient based on pathology and age. After a year, more than 50 studies have been launched with over 2000 patients in 25 clinical and research facilities throughout the national territory
Rome, 7 February 2024 - Which robotic technology is best suited to treat a singor pathology, in what type of patient and at what age? The project answers this question “Fit For Medical Robotics” with the final aim of scientifically demonstrating the most effective use of robotic technology within the patient's rehabilitation process, with the same precision with which we are able to prescribe a drug today.
One year after its launch, researchers took stock of the first results and showed some of the technologies that will populate healthcare facilities. Today i robot for rehabilitation, the exoskeletons for assistance, the upper and lower limb prosthesis, wearable sensors and algorithms of artificial intelligence for communication and interaction with machines and systems augmented and virtual reality to facilitate interaction with technology are the subject of advanced research but still used in singoil centers within small experimental studies that offer the first encouraging results but do not allow the clinical effectiveness of these technologies to be systematically analyzed.
Per la prima volta in Italia research on advanced technologies for rehabilitation and care connects synergistically ingengineers and clinicians within more than 50 different studies with over 2000 patients involved in more than 25 structures throughout Italy. The clinical and research centers and companies involved, led by National Research Council (CNR) with Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma e Don Gnocch Foundationi, operate together thanks to funding from 126 million euro made available as part of the Plan complementary to the PNRR by the Ministry of University and Research.
“In this first year we first of all reversed course – recalled the teacher Loredana Zollo, ordinary of Bioingengineering and dean of the Faculty of Ingengineering ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma - we have moved from a very fragmented context, characterized by many small clinical studies distributed across the national territory with a small number of patients, to a new scenario characterized by a synergistic and collaborative vision between dozens of clinical centers, universities, research centers and companies to build the scientific basis necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of emerging robotic technologies, with a view to completely rationalizing their use in healthcare facilities based on the needs of the patientingol patient. The great challenge that the project faces is being able to demonstrate that robotic technologies can effectively provide support to the entire treatment path, from prevention to home care, showing for which phase of the rehabilitation process the specific technology is most effective, for which pathologies, for which type of patients and which age groups. Furthermore, by identifying the limits of existing technologies, it is designing the hardware and software components of the future generation of robots.”
“Fit for Medical Robotics is a revolutionary project as it places the person at the centre: with it, robotic technologies become the means through which to develop innovative solutions to overcome vulnerability and fragility, improve the quality of life of patients and caregivers, promote greater social inclusion”, dichiara the President of the CNR, Maria Chiara Carrozza Carriage. “In this first year of activity, the broad public-private partnership, led by the National Research Council, has brought together committed scholars to put research and technology at the service of the well-being of humanity.”
“Among the most important challenges of our time - points out Maria Christina Mass, scientific director of the Don Gnocchi Foundation - there is that of long-term care and assistance using technologies and digitalisation in the best possible way. The Fit4medrob project is a development plan based on scientific research, which, by systemising numerous research and assistance centres, finds the critical mass to be able to direct the future development and appropriate use of robotics in the healthcare sector. In a Center like the Don Foundation Carlo Gnocchi, traditionally dedicated to the care of the most fragile subjects also through scientific research, the project allows not only to acquire new knowledge at the basis of the rehabilitation process but also to be able to spread advanced treatment methods throughout the territory, reaching all those who have them need".
"Analyzing this first year of work, it is appropriate to say: 'unity is strength'. The synergy that has been created between the partners is the true driving force of a project that has set itself an ambitious objective: to imprint a decisive change of direction on current rehabilitation and care models aimed at patients of all ages through the use of new robotic technologies and digital"ofchiara Christian Cipriani, full professor of Bioingindustrial engineering of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and scientific director of the project
The results of this project will have, in the future, an important impact on the efficiency of the healthcare system and will allow resources to be effectively invested in robotic and rehabilitation equipment, allowing for greater diffusion of these technologies throughout the country with benefits for the health of the entire population. .
THE FIT FOR MEDICAL ROBOTICS PROJECT
Fit4MedRob, coordinated by the National Research Council, sees the participation of 24 other partners, including 10 universities and research centers, 11 IRCCS or clinical centers and 3 industrial entities. It was created with the aim of revolutionizing current rehabilitation and assistance models for patients of all ages with reduced or absent motor, sensory or cognitive functions, through the development of new bionic and biorobotic digital technologies, as well as innovative treatment paradigms capable of exploit these technologies in all phases of the rehabilitation process, from prevention to home care in the chronic phase.
The project partners
Fit4MedRob brings together 25 partners, including 11 universities and research centres, 11 IRCCS and clinical centers and 3 industrial entities. Below is the complete list: National Research Council (CNR), Orthopedic Traumatological Care SpA, Don Foundation Carlo Gnocchi, Mondino Foundation, Campus Bio-Medico University Polyclinic Foundation, Stella Maris Foundation, Maugeri Scientific Clinical Institutes, Giannina Gaslini Institute, Italian Institute of Technology, Eugenio Medea of the “La Nostra Famiglia” Association, National Institute for Anti-Virus Insurance Accidents at Work Inail Prosthetic Center of Vigorso di Budrio, San Martino Polyclinic Hospital, Sant'Anna High School, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, University of Florence, University of Genoa, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, University of Naples Federico II, University of Pisa, University of Pavia, University of Siena, Congregation of Nursing Sisters of 'Addolorata Villa Beretta – Valduce Hospital, Eustema SpA, Item Oxygen SRL, Tecnobody srl