IIIT-B student makes glove to help motor neuron disease patients

BENGALURU: A visit to the

Nimhans disability ward

in January 2016 inspired Vinay Chandrashekar, an MTech student of the International Institute of Information and Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), to develop a light-weight physiotherapy device for patients suffering from motor neuron diseases.

Over the next nine months, he made a glove for those who can’t use their right hand due to the disease. Now, he along with his professor, Madhav Rao, have devised a developed version of the glove for the left hand too, with funding from the ministry of social justice.

“The hospital we went offered an imported and costly physiotherapy device, which patients could use only in the hospital. But doctors said it would help if patients could use such a device also at home. We wanted to develop a similar glove that is mobile and could be taken home by patients,” says Vinay.

The device — called anthropo mimic upper limb, which can be worn like a glove — has all the electronic ducts near the finger so that its mobility is not affected. “The glove that we saw in the hospital is a complicated one; our intention was to enable finger movement so that patients could even hold a glass with the glove on. The prototype we made for the right hand was a success and now we are creating a second version for the left hand,” Madhav Rao said.

The project was undertaken with the collaboration of Nimhans. “In January 2017, when we showed the glove and sought funds to make another one for the left hand, the social justice ministry came forward and funded Rs 16.9 lakh for the project. The ministry wanted us to develop the gloves to be distributed to NGOs working with MND patients,” Rao added.

The first prototype costs Rs 8,000, but Rao says if it produced in bulk, it would come down to Rs 1,000.