NSF Convergence Accelerator Track H: Appropriate Rehabilitation Technology via Passive Tactile Stimulation

Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability in the United States, resulting in millions of Americans with motor impairments. Recent studies have found that 55-74% of stroke survivors are not able to return to work after their stroke. Stroke survivors from traditionally medically underserved communities have even worse stroke recovery outcomes.

Current rehabilitation technologies that aim to help persons with disability recover after stroke are expensive, clinic-based, time-consuming, and generally inaccessible to medically underserved communities. In recent clinical trials, we demonstrated the effectiveness of a low-cost, portable, take-home wearable technology for recovery of movement: passive tactile stimulation.

Our goal is to perform use-inspired convergence research that brings this transformative technology to commercial, social, and economic success in order to enhance quality of life as well as employment opportunities for persons with movement disability after stroke.

We will accomplish this by participating in a curriculum that strengthens team convergence and accelerates the development of equitable, appropriate stroke recovery technology. In the first phase of the project, we will finalize our interdisciplinary and cross institutional team (including universities, hospitals, community organizations, and a new company; generate use cases for government, industry, and society; and develop a comprehensive research plan bolstered by initial prototype development, qualitative research, and participatory design studies.

In the second phase of the project, we wi¬ll create a commercially viable, effective low-cost stroke rehabilitation technology and dissemination model for long-term sustainable societal impact after the end of the project. We will implement a participatory design process for stroke technology to iteratively develop, test, and disseminate the technology, focusing on access, usability, adherence, and economics (effectiveness has already been shown through clinical trials). The rehabilitative effects of this technology would be used nationwide and eventually worldwide.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.