Singaporean university researcher develops robot massage therapist

As developers design robots with human capabilities, the tasks performed by the artificial intelligence go beyond routine ones such as assembly of products in high-tech factories. At Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a physiotherapist developed a robot that provides massage.

NTU graduate Albert Zhang developed Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, or Emma, which is undergoing clinical trials at the Kin Teck Tong’s Sports Science and Chinese Medicine Clinic at the Kallang Wave Mall. Emma is being used on patients at the Singapore Sports Hub by using acupoint therapy.

Emma has been relieving muscle strains and injuries of Singapore’s national athletes, such as national basketballer and Medicacorp actor Chase Tan. Emma is a robotic arm with a single, 6-axis robotic arm capable of highly articulated movements, a 3D stereoscopic camera system and 3D-printed massage tip which runs on proprietary software, reports Gizmag.

The tip could assess patients’ response like change in muscle or tendon stiffness that Emma is working on. Its data is uploaded to the cloud to allow the human therapist to monitor the patients’ progress over time and change treatment if necessary.

Zhang crated Emma to alleviate the shortage of trained therapists in Singapore, reports Straitstimes. Zhang explains, “Our aim is not to replace the therapists who are skilled in sports massage and accupoint therapy, but to improve productivity by enabling one therapist to treat multiple patients with the help of our robots.”

Since Emma started trials, the robot has treated 50 patients for various conditions such as stiff neck and shoulders, muscle pulls and tennis elbows. Beyond athletes, Emma could also be used to treat elderly Singaporean, says Coco Zhang, executive director of Kin Teck Tong.

“Like many developed countries, Singapore has the problem of an aging population. Over the next decade, more people are going to suffer from physical ailments such as arthritis and will be seeking treatment,” Coco Zhang says.

VIDEO: Meet Emma, the robot therapist that can treat sports injuries