The fourth edition of the EELISA Prototype Contest, an initiative organized by the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU), which brings together innovative projects from all the institutions of the Alliance, has come to an end.
Over the course of three days, participants received expert guidance to developing their ideas, products, and services. By training in open innovation methods, customer-centric design, market positioning, and collecting valuable feedback, the teams were able to turn their ideas into tangible projects, wich competed during their closing day, on December 11.
First prize: WRES – rehabilitation platform for the wrist
This year, the first prize was awarded to WRES, a Team from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in Pisa. The prototype provided a rehabilitation platform developed for the rehabilitation of the wrist of post-stroke and orthopedic patients. This team was led the guidance of Antonio Frisoli, professor at the Scuola Snat’Anna. The system is a modular platform, designed to accommodate a hand module for the complete rehabilitation of the distal upper limb of the patient, and is equipped with a control unit with parameterized serious games to stimulate the patient’s concentration and motivation during the exercises. This allows the therapist to set up personalized therapies and modify them during rehabilitation to follow the patient’s motor recovery profile.
During the “4th EELISA Prototype Context” event, the prototype was included in an entrepreneurial project called Re-HandShake, which demonstrated the current stage of maturity of the prototype, how it exceeds the current limitations of its competitors thanks to its unique selling points, how it meets market demands, and how the project is scalable and monetizable in the medium and long term. The Sant’Anna School team that presented the prototype is composed of Cristian Camardella, researcher, Alessandro Genua, and Anastasios Tzepkenlis, doctoral students.
