A haptic glove showcased at Innovate 2016 in Manchester could bring a sense of touch back to the hands of stroke victims.
Nigel Clarke is CEO of Hampshire-based Morgan Innovation & Technology, a firm which designs, develops and manufactures products in medical and commercial industries.
The glove is used in conjunction with virtual reality to give users the opportunity of feeling the action they are performing while 鈥榮eeing鈥� it from a first-person perspective.
鈥淲ith a stroke often you lose the sensations of picking up a hot cup of coffee [for example],鈥� he told 老九品茶Cloud.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l know what it should feel like, but you actually don鈥檛 feel it.
鈥淭himbles on the end of the fingers could give temperature, pressure and vibration sensations.
鈥淲e鈥檒l enable you to stimulate the fingers and the hand into what it actually feels like 鈥� and that will retrain your neural pathways to then retrain your brain and hopefully get the feeling and sensation back into your hands.鈥�
Morgan IAT was among 100 to win a place at Innovate. Clarke said its ethos is different to many similar companies.
鈥淭he original concept came out of the University of Southampton and we are still working with them,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a bit different: we invest up to 20-30 per cent of our turnover back into R&D 鈥� our own ideas, ideas from university, individuals and doctors.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not solely motivated by money 鈥� we鈥檙e motivated by helping people, enabling people, to get their ideas to market.
鈥淲e鈥檒l often do the work free of charge or discounted.鈥�