At CES 2018 in Las Vegas, NEOFECT, a South Korean firm, was showing off its RAPAEL Smart Pegboard, a new take on a simple rehab device. Pegboards are commonly used in rehabilitation settings to practice hand dexterity, as well as to assess an individual’s state and progress. They’re particularly useful for those recovering from a stroke, but their design typically doesn’t differ much from a children’s play toy.
The RAPAEL Smart Pegboard is certainly a 21st century pegboard, recognizing when the correct objects are placed into it, lighting up the peg holes in amusing ways to motivate use, and providing visual feedback when tasks are correctly performed. There are a bunch of routines pre-programmed for patients to follow, which utilize different functional and cognitive capabilities of the brain. These include a Whac-a-Mole kind of game, path tracing, and memory-intensive tasks.
The device is quite modular, allowing different kinds of boards, including mixed shape and pinch boards, to be swapped in and out
RAPAEL, a Futuristic Pegboard, Turns Boring Rehab Into a Game [Med Gadget]