2025/01/15 | Grants & Awards | Rehabilitation & Neural Engineering
Nic Krummenacher receives UniBE INNO Grant for DextEgg Project
The second round of UniBE INNO Grant recipients includes Nic Krummenacher, PhD student in the Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation group! His winning project, DextEgg, is a new, interactive, sensor-based rehabilitation system to train fine motor skills in clinic and at home.
With the UniBE INNO Grant, the university's Innovation Office wants to encourage and engage researchers, clinicians, staff, and PhD students to actively work on innovative projects, and turn those projects into tangible and impactful innovations.
One of five recipients in this second round of grants, Nic Krummenacher has received funding for his rehabilitation project DextEgg. DextEgg is an egg-shaped device which is designed to fit comfortably in one hand and can be manipulated by individual fingers. It is equipped with sensors to capture acceleration, orientation, and finger pressure - data, which is transmitted wirelessly and can provide real-time feedback via its connected software.
With DextEgg, Nic found a way to make rehabilitation of fine motor skills more efficient and practical for both clinicians and patients. Fine motor skill impairments caused by neurological diseases, aging, or injuries, are fairly common in Switzerland. This loss of finger dexterity makes daily activities difficult and significantly reduces quality of life for those impacted.
The current standard of rehabilitation, however, is found lacking by all parties involved.
DextEgg and its monitoring software (©Nic Krummenacher)
Due to lack of resources in clinics, patients are often tasked with at home training, which is frequently found to be monotonous and dull, and then abandoned or poorly implemented. Therapists also lack the ability to monitor training and track progress.
The software tied to DextEgg is not merely for therapists to analyze the data and manage their patients' training plans, it also serves as an innovative, fun way for patients to engage in their rehabilitation training without dull, repetitive tasks. The software lets patients access their rehabilitation programs, performance statistics as well as games, to make their rehabilitation journey more engaging and entertaining.
DextEgg makes rehabilitation more exciting with its games (©Nic Krummenacher)
With the UniBE INNO Grant, Nic plans to develop the existing proof-of-concept prototype hardware further and get DextEgg production-ready for certification and manufacturing.
We wish Nic all the best with his project and congratulate him on this great achievement!
