As a combination of industrial robots and medical robots, the goal of rehabilitation robots is to replace/assist rehabilitation therapists, simplify the traditional "one-to-one" heavy treatment process, and help patients reshape the central nervous system. As an important branch of medical robotics, its research runs through many fields such as rehabilitation medicine, biomechanics, mechanics, mechanical mechanics, electronics, materials science, computer science and robotics, and has become a research hotspot in the field of international robotics. The 80s of the 20th century was the initial stage of rehabilitation robotics research, and the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada were leading the world in research on rehabilitation robots. Before 1990, there were 56 research centers in five industrial zones around the world: North America, the British Commonwealth, Canada, continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan. After 1990, the research of rehabilitation robots entered a period of comprehensive development.
At present, rehabilitation robots have been widely used in rehabilitation nursing, prosthetics and rehabilitation therapy, which not only promotes the development of rehabilitation medicine, but also drives the development of new technologies and theories in related fields. At this stage, its product types mainly include exoskeleton rehabilitation robots, upper body nerve rehabilitation robots, and lower limb rehabilitation robots. It is widely used in downstream fields such as military strength training, neurological rehabilitation, sports and orthopedic medicine.
With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the rehabilitation robot industry continues to develop and has great prospects
At the current stage of the rapid development of information technology, the application of robots in various scenarios is gradually increasing. Developed countries are usually facing the problem of labor shortage, and rehabilitation doctors are very scarce in the medical industry, and rehabilitation robots are a good solution to this shortcoming, and their market demand is also expanding, many companies have seized this opportunity and began to produce rehabilitation robots. According to relevant reports, the number of rehabilitation patients in mainland China will gradually increase in the future, and the market development of rehabilitation robots has ushered in greater opportunities.
In addition, during the outbreak of the epidemic last year, the national medical personnel continued to struggle, and intelligent robots across the country are also concentrating on supporting front-line hospitals and providing assistance to sleepless medical staff. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the medical robot industry has unlimited potential for development in the future.
Second, such systems can not only treat mobility disorders (such as those caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other injuries), but also serve as intervention and treatment tools for social and behavioral disorders, including autism and ADHD, which can not only help people with disabilities regain their ability to live independently, but also assist the elderly to exercise. This kind of product with simple operation and diversified application types is more favored by consumers.
Research progress of exoskeleton rehabilitation robots
According to the data, among the three main product types of rehabilitation robots, exoskeleton rehabilitation robots are the most widely used. The rehabilitation of exoskeleton can realize the enhancement of human body function and the recovery of human body function, and the product is suitable for the rehabilitation training of upper limb dysfunction caused by stroke, brain injury and other nervous system damage, neurological disease and upper limb motor dysfunction after surgery, which can effectively solve the defects of existing products in the plasticity of the motor nervous system, greatly improve the movement disorder, and improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation training.
At present, the 206 Research Institute of the Second Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics of China vigorously explores the transformation and application of cutting-edge technologies such as brain science and neural depth perception in response to the needs of medical rehabilitation, and independently develops rehabilitation technologies and exoskeleton rehabilitation robots to help treat stroke patients with upper limb motor dysfunction. It is understood that the system has been tested in the rehabilitation department of Beijing Aerospace Center Hospital, under the control of autonomous movement intention, the patient has completed multiple sets of movement actions through the upper limb rehabilitation robot, the whole movement process intention recognition is accurate, the movement speed is moderate, the motion control and force control accuracy reaches the predetermined goal, and the product achieves the expected effect. It is expected that the registration and marketing of Class II medical devices will be completed in 2021 to meet the needs of doctors and patients.
The market value of the rehabilitation robot industry has been rising, and there is a huge supply and demand gap in the mainland, and this opportunity should be grasped well
From the above chart, it can be seen that the market value of rehabilitation robots has increased year by year in recent years, and there will be huge room for development in the future. But at present, the rehabilitation robot market is mainly monopolized by European and American brands, such as Lokomat of Hocoma, Lokohelp of WOODWAY, etc. The mainland is still in the initial stage of development, and although more and more enterprises have joined, the industrial pattern has not yet been formed. Those companies with first-mover advantages in technology and manufacturing, while actively building private sales channels and flexible cooperation models, will be the first to benefit from the outbreak of the industry and become the leading enterprises in the process of localization. At the same time, it can also be predicted that in the next few years, intelligent rehabilitation will become a new outlet in the industry, and intelligent rehabilitation robots will be a hot spot for industry investment, and this opportunity must be grasped well.