In June 2022, a collaboration protocol between the Dean of the University of Madeira Professor Sílvio Moreira Fernandes and the Secretary of Civil Protection and Health Dr Pedro Ramos was signed, giving rise to the Quality-of-Life Technologies Center of Madeira - LifeTech. LifeTech aims to develop technology to improve the quality of life after disability through illness or aging.

The origins of LifeTech stem from over ten years of collaboration between the research group NeuroRehabLab associated with the University of Madeira/ARDITI and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Regional Health System of Madeira (SESARAM). Our experience is that there is a mutual benefit in joining health professionals with researchers with a background in engineering into a “thought box” directed to problem-solving. This collaboration gave rise to multiple technological systems that have been clinically validated.

For instance, the virtual reality (VR) instruments developed for cognitive rehabilitation were able to make the transition to clinical practice. These instruments include Reh@city, Reh@task and the NeuroRehablab task generator [1–3]. Globally, patients have shown improvement in neuropsychological assessments, including MoCA and IFS and have reached the goals assessed through GAS. Another important focus of the collaboration over the years has been rehabilitation after stroke. In the motor domain, there is evidence to the benefit of stimulation of mirror neurons for motor recovery. To that end we developed a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system called NeuRow in which an avatar can be controlled through the imagination of movement [4]. The simple imagination of movement is a mental exercise that activates neurons in a similar way as an actual movement, and the BCI-VR system allows for feedback. The scope of LifeTech extends further from interactive tables for motor rehabilitation and social engagement [5] to exergames designed to be a motivating and safe way of exercise in the elderly and disabled [6]. Finally, for phantom pain after lower-limb amputation, a VR-based prototype was developed using electrophysiology and providing mirror treatment.

LifeTech has also in its mission to translate scientific research into the clinical praxis, to provide the patients of SESARAM with the best treatments available. To that end, projects such as Musiquence - a cognitive stimulation tool for dementia – could be integrated into the repertoire of treatment options and studied further, for example, in acquired brain injury [7]. Ongoing projects such as the FCT-funded BRaNT: Belief Revision applied to Neurorehabilitation Therapy - a tablet-based cognitive rehabilitation tool - are undergoing the process of validation within the cognitive rehabilitation unit of SESARAM with expert support from a neuropsychologist [8]. The last project under the umbrella of the Center studies capitalizes on recent scientific evidence of the early use of an eye-tracking device in stroke patient motor rehabilitation of the upper limb; in this sense, eye movements are detected and translated into the movement of an avatar [9].

LifeTech adopts an interdisciplinary approach centered on the pillars of neuroscience, clinical practice, human-machine interaction, and virtual reality. Clear communication leads to a better understanding of potential and limitations on either side. Our practice is to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical practice so that research can be directed to solve immediate clinical situations and shorten the process in which the developed technology can benefit the target population.

1 Vourvopoulos A, Faria AL, Ponnam K, et al. RehabCity: Design and validation of a cognitive assessment and rehabilitation tool through gamified simulations of activities of daily living. In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. Association for Computing Machinery 2014. doi:10.1145/2663806.2663852

2 Faria AL, Badia SBI. Development and evaluation of a web-based cognitive task generator for personalized cognitive training: A proof of concept study with stroke patients. In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. Association for Computing Machinery 2015. 1–4. doi:10.1145/2838944.2838945

3 Faria AL, Cameirão MS, Couras JF, et al. Combined cognitive-motor rehabilitation in virtual reality improves motor outcomes in chronic stroke - A pilot study. Front Psychol 2018;9. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00854

4 Vourvopoulos A, Jorge C, Abreu R, et al. Efficacy and brain imaging correlates of an immersive motor imagery BCI-driven VR system for upper limb motor rehabilitation: A clinical case report. Front Hum Neurosci 2019;13. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00244

5 Pereira F, Bermudez I Badia S, Jorge C, et al. Impact of Game Mode on Engagement and Social Involvement in Multi-User Serious Games with Stroke Patients. In: International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, ICVR. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2019. doi:10.1109/ICVR46560.2019.8994505

6 Gouveia ÉR, Bernardino A, Cameirão MS, et al. Augmented Human Assistance (AHA) - Active aging · Serious games · Assistive robotics · Augmented reality · Virtual coach. Scitepress 2019. 20–41. doi:10.5220/0008861800200041

7 Andrade Ferreira LD, Cavaco S, Badia SBI. Musiquence: A serious game customization system for dementia. In: Proceedings of the 2019 5th Experiment at International Conference, exp.at 2019. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2019. 247–8. doi:10.1109/EXPAT.2019.8876511

8 Spínola M, Câmara J, Faria AL, et al. A step towards the design of an ADL-based cognitive training platform: enhancing the ecological validity. International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation Published Online First: 2021. doi:10.34944/dspace/7297

9 Modroño C, Socas R, Hernández-Martín E, et al. Neurofunctional correlates of eye to hand motor transfer. Hum Brain Mapp 2020;41:2656–68. doi:10.1002/hbm.24969