Neuro-ExoHeal

Hi, I am Zain Ahmed Samdani, a student and a scientific researcher from India/Saudi Arabia. 

I'd describe myself as a roboticist and an expressive artist sparked by cartoons to make fiction a reality and aid humanity. Believing is key! I also have a passion for poetry; It gives meaning to my thoughts and serves as motivation in tough times. I am also fascinated by the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.

My interest in Robotics began with my mother. Seeing her busy with her household schedule and taking care of us which resulted in less time for herself, inspired me to create robots which could lessen her burden.

I've been working on a project called ExoHeal since August 2015. ExoHeal combines robotics and neuroscience to help patients with hand paralysis recover faster. The project was initiated to help my Uncle, who had suffered a stroke. Since then, I have developed five prototypes that have undergone rigorous testing under the supervision of doctors and physiotherapists.  After using ExoHeal, my Uncle felt sensations in his paralyzed hand on the very first day, weeks, or months faster than he would have with traditional therapy. After Initially examining the device with patients and Doctors in Saudi Arabia & India, We concluded that ExoHeal could help these patients recover 30% faster. Many patients are unable to access affordable treatment and so we use the story of our uncle's success to bring hope back to the eyes of many more patients as they regain use of their hands, increase family income and restore self-confidence.

9 out of 10 stroke survivors suffer from some degree of paralysis. among them, many people lose the ability to use their limbs, they are unable to perform simple tasks and are forced to lead tough lives as they cannot afford overall expenses. These people are our motivation and initial focus. While ultimately having a goal to create a solution for more than 130 million paralyzed patients around the globe, 84% of whom are unemployed. Among them was my Uncle. Due to hand paralysis, he was unable to perform simple tasks and his eyes were always filled with hopelessness. When we visited rehabilitation centers, we saw the same look in the eyes of so many individuals. 

Upon extensive research, we realized that the current rehabilitation devices and services were time-consuming, psychologically strenuous, and expensive costing upwards of 10,000 dollars. The current rehabilitation devices provide monotonous exercises in which the patient does not attempt to move their hand with intention. The robot does all the work and that's where the problem lies. There is no physical effort being made by the patient. While visiting rehabilitation centers we had noticed that many patients had to travel Long-distances for their rehabilitation sessions.

Our idea Neuro-Exoheal combines neuroscience and robotics to help patients recover 30% faster. Neuro-ExoHeal incorporates the concepts of neuroplasticity and mirror learning into a rehabilitation routine that utilizes an exoskeleton. 

Neuro-ExoHeal is divided into a sensory hand and a skeletal hand. When a movement is performed by the sensory good hand, the exoskeleton will force the paralyzed hand to mimic the same motion which helps to rewire the brain by triggering plastic changes. ExoHeal encourages patients to use both their hands in their daily tasks. It is capable of grasping everyday objects and is comfortable enough for patients to use the device for long periods. Hence enabling the patients to move with intention which many Doctors describe as the fundamental key to recovery.

As it becomes impractical and expensive to travel large distances for the patient's rehabilitation sessions, we have developed an app that contains a step by step guide to rehabilitation routine and acts as a means of communication between the patient-doctor.

As ExoHeal’s latest version Neuro-ExoHeal brings the cost down from $10,000 to less than $650 it helps decrease expenses/increase family income, help patients get back their self-confidence and self-respect, giving them hope to lead normal lives.

Our beneficiaries include post stroke patients with monoplegia, hemiplegia, and soon diplegia.

Currently, rehabilitation devices are often bulky, expensive<$10,000, non-portable, focused only on assisting patients with regular exercise and require manual interaction with physical therapists that make the procedure labor&dash;intensive and raise costs. Furthermore, they insinuate the need for patients to travel large distances for their rehabilitation sessions.

ExoHeal appeals to post-stroke patients as it provides a friendly experience. The current devices are seen as obtrusive machines due to their robotic and forceful nature. ExoHeal, on the other hand, is designed to feel like a second skin, affordable<$650 and portable. It enables patients to use the device in their routine tasks concurrently helping them recover faster. The 3d printed device can be reconfigured to meet user requirements. ExoHeal is unique as it can also help in cases where both hands of the patient are paralyzed. It is accompanied by a mobile application that bridges the gap between the patient and the doctor. thereby eliminating the need for regular visits. The patient can comfortably use the device. The doctor views the progress and suggest patient-specific exercises via the application thereby recovery maximizing efficiency. ExoHeal seeks to make hand disabilities less alarming.

During my trip to India in the summer of 2015, I had gotten to know about my Uncle, who suffered from hand paralysis. He was unable to perform simple tasks and his eyes were always filled with hopelessness. When we visited rehabilitation centers, we saw the same look in the eyes of so many individuals. I was shocked to see the difficulty with which patients had to navigate their daily lives. Upon extensive research, we realized that the current rehabilitation devices and services were time-consuming, Psychologically strenuous, and Expensive costing upwards of 10,000 dollars. This inspired us to develop an affordable and faster hand paralysis rehabilitation system.

While visiting rehabilitation centers we have noticed that many patients had to travel Long-distances for their rehabilitation sessions. This was both time-consuming and expensive. To tackle this, we’ve developed an App that acts as a means of communication between the doctor and the patient. Thus enabling the doctor to guide and monitor the progress of various patients and allowing the patient to comfortably use the device at home.

My uncle and a few relatives suffered from hand paralysis. Looking into their helpless eyes brought forth a spark of passion within me help them in way I can. Back then, I was working on developing affordable prosthetics hands for the amputees. However after looking at stroke statistics and the research that was being done to help these people, I realized that there was a vehement lack of effort being made to provide solutions for the disabled. We have more or less focused on a more robotics approach rather than a human one. I want to use my project to help the disabled and create a platform that makes hand disabilities less alarming in the future.

We started ExoHeal 5 years ago to help our uncle, who was suffering from paralysis. Due to the complex issue of paralysis, we have dedicated the majority of this time to meetings with doctors, scientists, and patients to better understand the issue. During this period, we've developed 5 prototypes, all of whom have undergone rigorous testing to ensure a comfortable experience. 

Our team helped create a rehabilitation routine that enabled patients to feel sensations on their paralyzed on the very first day. We established the right connections, for example, Dr. Fawaz Abdulaziz Al-Hussain(Consultant Neurologist & stroke subspecialist) has introduced the project at the King Khalid University Hospital research center and initiated the conversation about Neuro-ExoHeal's extensive clinical trials.

My journey up until this point has been a roller coaster of both difficulties and triumphs. A year ago, in 2018, I lost the ability to coordinate my sight due to a traumatically induced incident and was diagnosed with intermittent exotropia. This meant that I could stay conscious for about 2 hours at a time. Now one can only imagine how heart-wrenching such a situation might have been, especially as it occurred in the middle of my finals and college applications. Down went my years of hard work due to a condition beyond my control. Every opportunity that came my way drifted away with a bitter taste. It was during this time that I began to learn the essence of life, how it's a collaborative effort that drives change, just how important it is to understand and value human emotion. Through hard-work and dedication, the following year, I was selected as a Global Teen Leader and GSF Global Finalist. I've more than fought the pangs of mental and physical health, and have strived to achieve more and more. My main project went through several development phases and I can now say that it's going to help the patients out there.

My team had won $10,000 at Misk Hackathon, which was the world's first dual nation hackathon. It connected more than 100 youths from London and Riyadh by satellite in a competition broadcast over two days. I lead a team and developed a doctor-patient communication application within 48 hours. The Application enabled doctors to remotely monitor various patients and guide them from anywhere around the world. The patients have access to a step by step guide and can perform their therapy home.

This was the world's first dual nation hackathon where half my team was in K.S.A. and the other half in U.K. With proper planning, coordination, and the ability to work cohesively, I was able to lead the team to develop an app within 48 hours that enabled patients to take their therapy home, thereby reducing travel costs and time. I was able to convey the significance of the project and the sheer impact it would have on the disabled population to the investor's panel, and we bagged $10,000.

Currently, rehabilitation devices are often bulky, expensive<$10,000, non-portable, focused only on assisting patients with regular exercise and require manual interaction with physical therapists that make the procedure labor&dash;intensive and raise costs. Furthermore, they insinuate the need for patients to travel large distances for their rehabilitation sessions daily.

ExoHeal appeals to post-stroke patients as it provides a friendly experience. The current devices are seen as obtrusive machines due to their robotic and forceful nature. ExoHeal, on the other hand, is designed to feel like a second skin, affordable<$650 and portable. It enables patients to use the device in their routine tasks concurrently helping them recover faster. The 3d printed device can be reconfigured to meet user requirements. ExoHeal is unique as it can also help in cases where both hands of the patient are paralyzed. It is accompanied by a mobile application that bridges the gap between the patient and the doctor. thereby eliminating the need for regular visits. The patient can comfortably use the device. The doctor can view the progress and suggest patient-specific exercises via the application thereby recovery maximizing efficiency. ExoHeal seeks to make hand disabilities less alarming.

We've developed 5 main prototypes over 4 years and are now certain of the final direction the product is headed in. However, our greatest present need lies in receiving monetary support to design and thoroughly test a commercial product capable of being approved by FDA medical standards. Financial funding would help us lay the groundwork as a medical startup and sufficiently develop our systems. This would enable us to legalize the product and set up production. This will be followed by advertising campaigns at medical fairs around the world prior to the product's launch.

In addition to monetary support, we also require expert advice and networks on entering the US market as a medical startup. We want to establish our presence in the disabled community as a symbol of hope. Hence, in our current status, receiving financial support along with expert guidance is our primary need.

The product will be sold to hospitals and rehabilitation centers in the beginning via a B to B shared pricing model. These institutions then offer the device to patients for a monthly fee in accordance with their needs. This monthly fee paid by the user to the hospital will be shared with our company. The central software for managing patient’s data and device functions will be sold to institutions for a one time fee based on customizations with a yearly maintenance charge priced at 18% of the original cost.

We are already communicating with a few hospitals in Saudi Arabia  who are  eagerly awaiting the finalization of the product. In the first 6 months of its launch, we’ll be selling to at least 10 hospitals in the city of Riyadh and based on its success, we'll be moving to other cities

With this business model in mind, we estimate to reach the break even point by the  end of the first year  after starting production. The minimum projected revenue is $235,000 being a biomedical product. 

At the current rate of development, we estimate that ExoHeal will be able to bring down the annual cost of paralysis treatment from $23.5 billion dollars to $3 billion.

We recently took part in the Diamond Challenge and were able to bag first place in the Social Innovation Category. This meant that our team would be funded with $13,000.

Our project won $10,000 at the Misk Hackathon in 2016( World's first Dual Nation Hackathon)