Thesis Project Form

The rehabilitation of fine manual skills is a key component in the recovery process of patients with neurological, orthopedic, or age-related impairments, impacting daily activities such as writing, grasping, and object manipulation. Effective rehabilitation requires repetitive, targeted exercises that stimulate precision, coordination, and controlled force application.
Many existing rehabilitation tools are either limited to virtual environments or rely on single-purpose devices, offering reduced flexibility and customization. In contrast, physical interaction with tangible objects remains crucial for training fine motor control, especially in home-based or semi-supervised rehabilitation scenarios.
This thesis aims to explore the development of a physical, modular rehabilitation system consisting of a unified board integrating different mechanical interaction elements.

The main objective of this thesis is to design, implement, and evaluate a prototype system for the rehabilitation of fine manual skills based on a modular physical interaction board. The board may combine custom 3D-printed components with commercially available elements, providing a flexible platform for fine motor skill rehabilitation.
More specifically, the activities will include:
Analysis of rehabilitation requirements for fine manual skill training
Design of a modular board integrating heterogeneous interaction elements
Selection and integration of mechanical components
Design and implementation of embedded electronics for signal acquisition
Integration of the board with a software interface for exercise execution and data logging
Development of configurable rehabilitation exercises

The student will acquire knowledge and skills in:
- Design of interactive physical systems for rehabilitation
- Basics of fine motor rehabilitation principles
- Hardware–software integration
- Rapid prototyping and 3D printing techniques
- Signal acquisition and basic data analysis
- Usability evaluation of interactive rehabilitation devices