Men&Tel and Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital shared their medical rehabilitation robot at a session sponsored by the Medical Rehabilitation Robot Pilot Program (MRRPP) at the K-Hospital 2017 Fair on Friday.

The two companies have been selected as the support group for the MRRPP this year.

During the session, Men&Tel, a company that had developed its medical rehabilitation robot called “Bed to Walk,” which takes care of the patient’s lower body rehabilitation from beginning to end, introduced their new device, 3DBT-61.

3DBT-61 is an upper-body rehabilitation robot that assists in restoring and reconstructing the rigid muscles and joints of arms and shoulders. It also helps to rehabilitate arm movements through specific games customized for each patient.

The robot also provides resistance to the patient’s movement, which enhances rehabilitation training.

With 3DBT-61, the company aims to complete the line-up covering all aspects of rehabilitation.

_{동국대일산병원} introduced Exowalk, an orbital type gait training robot, used for rehabilitating and treating patients and disabled person, who need the reconstruction of lower extremity muscles or the restoration of injured joints.

The hospital won the approval for clinical trials earlier this year, to assess the effects of robot-assisted gait training with Exowalk for the gait ability of stroke patients.

The trial measured leg muscle power, balance and gait velocity and capacity.

The results showed that Exowalk provides the better balance function for an ambulating stroke patient. The robot also proved chronic stroke patient could benefit from robot rehabilitation.

The hospital plans to publish these results in an international journal and promote Korea’ medical rehabilitation robot so that it can expand sales abroad.

However, the medical rehabilitation robot industry still faces difficulties in marketing and getting approved for clinical trials.

“The medical rehabilitation robot faces difficulty in exploring new avenues,” said Kim Ho-gene _김호진, director of MRRPP. “This is because the barriers to entering clinical sites such as hospitals and treatment room are too high.”

The purpose of MRRPP is to help such industries to select companies that specialize in medical rehabilitation robot and support them with clinical trials and enter the market, Kim added.

Organizers of the MRRPP, a division of the National Rehabilitation Center, said they expected the program would improve the marketability of medical rehabilitation robots by accumulating the results of clinical use.

They also hoped it would promote the rehabilitation robot industry and improve the quality of life by establishing an insurance system for the rehabilitation of medical rehabilitation robots.