JOHOR BAHRU, 8 Oct. – The electrical engineering Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduate of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Dr. Khor Kha Xiang was chosen to represent Malaysia in Young Innovators Program at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) 2018 at Doha, Qatar.
The programme which is to be held at Doha, Qatar on this coming 13-14 November 2018 is an annual programme which highlights some of the most exciting innovations in healthcare through its Young Innovators competition.
Dr. Khor Kha Xiang graduated from Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), UTM and his PhD project titled “Portable and Reconfigurable Robot for Forearm Rehabilitation and Assessment of Post-stroke Subjects” or CR-2 Haptic.
This project has yielded over 10 publications including in Q1-ranked journals throughout his PhD studies. He is also the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Techcare Innovation Sdn. Bhd. that develops smart rehabilitation and fitness devices.
His supervisor, Dr. Yeong Che Fai said the project of “CR2-Haptic” was developed with the aims to motivate and train the hand movement of stroke survivor with virtual reality and robotics technology.
“CR2-Haptic is a portable and reconfigurable rehabilitation robot for forearm rehabilitation training. Reconfigurable rehabilitation robot’s advantage is able to increase the functionality of robot therapy by adopting different therapeutic devices for different training movements and patients’ recovery.
“CR2-Haptic design incorporates various passive modules using one single robot to train multiple hand components,” said Dr. Yeong.
The CR2-Haptic consists of patient-tailored robot-assisted training therapy that is able to provide customizable training including passive, active-assisted and resistive modes to cater for different recovery stage of subject.
Dr. Yeong said that the user of CR2-Haptic can perform assessment and multiple repetitive wrist, forearm and hand training while engaging with virtual reality games.
“Each year, WISH highlights some of the most exciting innovations in healthcare through its Young Innovators competition which provides a platform for tomorrow’s most promising healthcare leaders.
“Their innovations include devices, applications, innovative delivery models and design-based solutions that improve quality of care and patient experience, while also reducing the cost of care,” said Dr. Yeong.
WISH is a global healthcare community dedicated to capturing and disseminating the best evidence-based ideas and practices.
Around 2000 healthcare experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and ministers from over 100 countries will gather in Doha, Qatar on this coming November as one community to collaboratively work to achieve one goal, a healthier world.