Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, affecting 15 million people each year and leaving 5 million with long-term impairments. There's also a growing shortage of physical therapists, making it harder for patients to access consistent, high-quality care. 'Our goal is to teach robots how to assist with physical and occupational therapy, not to replace therapists, but to extend their reach,' explains Johannes Lachner, who completed this work as a MIT-Novo Nordisk Artificial Intelligence Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. 'A core innovation of our system is that physical therapists can train their own robot using AI, enabling personalized, scalable support tailored to each patient's needs.' Lachner, now an assistant professor at Purdue University, and Noah Geiger, a Junior Managers Program Trainee (AI/IT Track) at Robert Bosch GmbH and former visiting student at MIT, developed...
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