The Thertact team, formed by André Perrotta (DEI/CISUC-IS), Carla Vieira (U. Católica Portuguesa/CISS), Demétrio Matos (IPCA/ID+), Luis Stateri (Marketing&Management consultant), Miguel Pais-Vieira (U.Aveiro/IBIMED) has won 1st prize in the EIT Jumpstarter Health category. Their proposal is "Thertact" - a mobile, home neurorehabilitation system, aimed at patients with locomotion impairment such as spinal cord injury and stroke. The system uses BCI, VR and thermal-tactile haptic feedback and stimulation to create a rich immersive experience where the patient can control the gait of his/her avatar using the motor imagery BCI strategy.
The desktop version of the system is already being used in clinical case-studies at the physiatry clinic at Hospital de Guimarães and has shown positive results in the preliminary tests. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9163805/)
The EIT prize will help the team raise funds to expand clinical trials and develop a prototype for the mobile version of the system.