Researchers in Canada have managed to train robots to guide injured workers through simulated tasks as part of their return-to-work evaluations and treatment programs.
According to the German News Agency, researchers from the University of Alberta reported that robots with machine learning capabilities can help provide effective treatment methods for injured workers in order to measure their abilities after work accidents and rehabilitate them.
The Phys.org website quoted researcher Doug Gross, a physical therapist at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta, saying: "This research will hopefully improve the rehabilitation treatment methods, and help the patient return quicker to work after healing."
The new technique aims at training the robot on accompanying the injured worker during the rehabilitation treatment and assisting him/ her, like through lifting an injured leg to walk. The robot can also monitor patients' movements, and provide their physician with regular reports to help assess the progress. These trained robots can help injured patients without the need for a nurse or any kind of human contribution during physiotherapy sessions.
