From left: Mouza Alahbabi, Nouf Alsaedi, and Fady Al Najjar, assistant professor at the College of Information Technology. The basic arm costs about Dh10,000 and has a built-in camera. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
From left: Mouza Alahbabi, Nouf Alsaedi, and Fady Al Najjar, assistant professor at the College of Information Technology. The basic arm costs about Dh10,000 and has a built-in camera. Jeffrey E BitenShow more

UAE students develop 3-D printed robot arm to aid rehabilitation



ABU DHABI // A robot arm developed to help stroke patients regain movement may be sent to war zones to protect the lives of bomb disposal crews.

Students from UAE University designed the 3D-printed device to help rehabilitation after motion loss and are looking at a wider range of uses.

“The idea started with a rehabilitation robot for people who had a stroke and lost their motion,” said Dr Fady Al Najjar, assistant professor at the university’s college of IT and visiting researcher at the Brain Science Institute in Japan.

“You really need time to completely recover and going to hospital and finding an appointment will give you rehabilitation twice a week at most, which isn’t enough. So you have to rehabilitate yourself at home.”

The process involves the patient wearing the prosthetic on their healthy arm to measure movement, before being attached to their damaged arm.

“The basic (model) is for heavier tasks and can carry up to 2 kgs compared to half a kilo with the other one,” Dr Al Najjar said.

But the team have found many uses for the device, whose development is part-funded by the Armed Forces.

The arm could also be used by police to remotely check suspicious bags and to defuse and dispose of bombs.

“You can send a robot to a bag as far as 100 metres and you have full control with a camera,” Dr Al Najjar said.

“It’s 3D-printed so it’s not as costly as a human life.”

The basic arm costs about Dh10,000 and has a built-in camera.

Dr Al Najjar is in talks with Abu Dhabi Police to sponsor and use it in operations.

“They are really interested because it’s real-time motion and you don’t need someone to train it,” Dr Al Najjar said.

“We will build it on a track, which is kind of a mini tank, and attach a full upper body robot inside it.

“If they like the prototype, we’ll make it stronger to lift heavier weights and we can do it in two to three months if we have the full budget of about US$25,000, excluding the track.”

Al Ain Hospital, which he said has also expressed interest in the project, has ordered customised arms.

Hajar Alshehhi, a 21-year-old computer science student who worked on the project, she said has always been interested in bionics.

“When I started computer science, I really enjoyed it more than anything so I just want to build other things that involve artificial intelligence and computer science programming,” she said.

“We also think about it as dealing with bombs. So, instead of sending a man to the field we could just send this robot so injury to humans will beminimalised.

“It’s something that’s needed and it made me want to be build more in the future.

“I just love it and I want to do anything in this field because it can really improve people’s lives, from medical and educational to police.”

Her classmate, Nouf Alsaedi, said the 3D printing aspect of the project fascinated her.

“It gives you the freedom to make anything you want, so anything you dream of, you can apply it,” said the 20-year-old student in computer science.

“AI is the future, it’s part of the vision of the UAE and we want to go further,” she said.

cmalek@thenational.ae

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Founder: Abdulla Almoayed

Based: UAE

Founded: 2017

Number of employees: 35

Sector: FinTech

Raised: $13 million

Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.

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1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix 4:18:30

2. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:06

3.  Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06

4. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06

5. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:08

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.

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Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

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Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

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Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.

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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Fixtures and results:

Wed, Aug 29:

  • Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
  • Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
  • UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs

Thu, Aug 30: UAE v Nepal; Hong Kong v Singapore; Malaysia v Oman

Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal

Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore

Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu, Sep 6: Final

Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Two stars

SCORES IN BRIEF

Lahore Qalandars 186 for 4 in 19.4 overs
(Sohail 100,Phil Salt 37 not out, Bilal Irshad 30, Josh Poysden 2-26)
bt Yorkshire Vikings 184 for 5 in 20 overs
(Jonathan Tattersall 36, Harry Brook 37, Gary Ballance 33, Adam Lyth 32, Shaheen Afridi 2-36).

Pakistan squad

Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi

The Kingfisher Secret
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Results

Women finals: 48kg - Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) bt Distria Krasniqi (KOS); 52kg - Odette Guiffrida (ITA) bt Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS); 57kg - Nora Gjakova (KOS) bt Anastasiia Konkina (Rus)

Men’s finals: 60kg - Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) bt Francisco Garrigos (ESP); 66kg - Vazha Margvelashvili (Geo) bt Yerlan Serikzhanov (KAZ)