Scottish technology firm Bioliberty has raised £2.2m in funding to build a soft robotic glove designed to restore limb mobility for those who have experienced strokes.
The solution, named Lifeglov, was developed to rehabilitate patients by improving the wearers’ strength when both opening and closing the hand.
Some of the key metrics the glove monitors relate to upper limb mobility; these are intended to show users’ improvement throughout their rehabilitation journey.
The device works alongside the Digital Therapy Platform, which delivers tailored exercises to help build patients’ natural hand strength.
The recent funding will be used by Bioliberty to complete development of the trial product and finalise the creation of its platform.
What’s more, the funding is also anticipated to help the company obtain FDA approval and early commercial engagement in the US.
Rowan Armstrong, CEO at Bioliberty, said: “Our aim at Bioliberty is to empower every human to live a longer independent life by providing assistive robotics and rehabilitative technologies.
“The Lifeglov is a first step on this journey and the funding announced today will allow us to complete its development, along with our software platform, while preparing the runway for our US sales push. We’re confident in our technology and excited by the benefits it can deliver for both patients and occupational therapists.”
According to the gloves’ developers, the use of soft robotics represents a unique application for rehabilitation solutions, and helps the product to be more pliable, comfortable and complementary to the upper arm, while simultaneously generating data to support stroke recovery.
Though the glove’s initial application will be the upper limb rehabilitation market, its developers hope the technology will eventually be applied to other clinical processes, including lower limb rehabilitation.
