An unexpected fall is a big fear for many older people, with the World Health Organisation ranking falls as the world’s second leading cause of death from accidental or unintentional injuries – but a new robot being tested in Singapore could help stop dangerous tumbles.
The Mobile Robotic Balance Assistant or MRBA (affectionately pronounced “Mr Bah”) is a wearable assistive robot born from a partnership between Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).
Mr Bah’s inbuilt sensors can instantly spot a loss of balance and catch the user with its safety harness; it can also help users with poor balance to safely stand up and sit down, and its depth-sensing cameras and machine learning algorithms can predict and prevent future falls.
Clinical trials of 29 patients, including people who have experienced stroke, spinal injury, or traumatic brain injury, found that Mr Bah was a big help with sitting, standing, walking, and tasks like getting a drink of water.
Additionally, in the three days each patient spent with the robot, not a single fall was recorded, said Associate Professor Wei Tech Ang, Executive Director of the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore (RRIS).
“MRBA could prove to be an invaluable resource for older adult users, and help promote independent living and aging.
“The development of the robot was a result of a fruitful collaboration with TTSH, blending our expertise in engineering and machine learning with their strengths in rehabilitation and medicine,” he said.
The team is looking to expand the trials with an eye to hopefully seeing Mr Bah released for commercial use some time next year – and Professor Ang says the first unit will go to his Mum.
