Innovation

The first steps of using a prosthesis are the most difficult ones. As more than half of people who get or receive Motorica’s prostheses have not used them before. They do not even know that prosthesis is not a simple tool. The significant weight of the prosthesis, the effort to manage it, doubts and the desire to give up everything can cause demotivation, which does not allow people to appreciate all the advantages of using a prosthesis in daily life.

As Head of Marketing Department of Motorica, Aleksey Akhmetshin said, “This is a specific benefit for both the user and us, when we understand that the user has not put the prosthesis on the shelf”.

Motorica pays a lot of attention to the motivation and rehabilitation process to encourage people to use prostheses. The ATTILAN platform elevates these practices by introducing tele rehabilitation. The prosthesis seamlessly connects to the Motorica information system via an eSIM, which are widely used in IoT (Internet of Things) technology and enable remote monitoring of prosthetic devices. The ATTILAN system collects data on the frequency and patterns of use, the number of active users and users in rehabilitation, etc. This data helps to tailor rehabilitation and personalize it, identifies problems early on, and promptly connects with users to provide assistance. Moreover, Motorica's ATTILAN digital platform incorporates a comprehensive rehabilitation program in VR that is located in the Skolkovo Innovation Center, where users can play with their prostheses in VR games to explore their possibilities and capabilities. Motorica is working on scaling the alternative of this game on personal devices to reach customers in other regions of Russia and in international markets.

This project was made possible under collaboration with Kaspersky and Beeline brand (VimpelCom) that provides security of data and connection. This innovation unites people from different spheres such as developers, rehabilitation specialists, marketers, product specialists, analysts and many others.

Inspiration

The main inspiration for the innovation comes from problems with motivation that have Motorica’s clients and problems with health that can be caused by refusal of the prosthesis.

“Many of our users came and said, “What do your prostheses give us? Nothing". Then they began to use it actively and said “I was wrong, because I did not put enough effort at the first time”, then they just started not taking them off”, said Aleksey Akhmetshin.

The motivation and support at the first steps are crucial in rehabilitation. More than 20% of people do not use their prosthesis even if they have one. However, the prosthesis is an important part of rehabilitation. Chronic musculoskeletal problems including shoulder misalignment, back pain, and arm muscle atrophy can occur in the absence of a prosthesis, which in turn impairs daily functioning like grabbing moving, and carrying objects.

The solution was found in the Internet of Body concept. It is a large trend that covers daily life of people and concentrates on digitalization of health. Motorica sees the perspective in this field and believes that current innovation will be a great basis for future business development.

Overall impact

This innovation has already had a great impact and potential as it can be scalable for other spheres of portable medical devices.

First of all, when users know that their activity in using a prosthesis is being monitored, they will begin to use the prosthesis more often. At the same time, Motorica’s specialists can quickly react to users' problems if eSIM IoT identifies some problems or downstream patterns of activity. Hence, more people with disabilities will be motivated to overcome the first difficult steps and enjoy life with a prosthesis.

“We are planning to create an ecosystem based on this system [ATTILAN], where clinics, rehabilitation specialists, and manufacturers of prosthesis will be connected”, said Aleksey Akhmetshin.

In the long run, Motorica wants to add new products and new regions in the ATTILAN system to help more people. On the basis of ATTILAN, an ecosystem will be created that will unite manufacturers of prosthesis and other rehabilitation products, clinics and rehabilitation specialists. It will help people with disabilities to use one simple way of communication with different agents of their rehabilitation process.

The connection of rehabilitation clinics and prosthetic specialists to the prosthetic devices would enable the broader spectrum for research and as a result would enforce innovation in the field.

Business benefit

The implementation of technology helps Motorica to better understand their customers, improve customer service and become an even more customer-oriented company. The company confirmed hypotheses that they obtained from qualitative data (customers’ feedbacks) by quantitative data from eSIMs (data on the frequency and patterns of use, the number of active users and users in rehabilitation, etc).

The Big Data that was collected about usage patterns, errors occurred during usage, users and etc. via ATTILAN system, will be used for prognostic models and will be the basis for future development of better version of rehabilitation system, prosthesis and ecosystem. By analyzing the usage patterns and user experiences, Motorica can highlight the points for improvement in their prosthetic designs and functionalities. This data-driven approach allows the company to continuously enhance their products, ensuring that they meet the evolving needs and preferences of their customers.

“In the forecast, we want to make a prosthesis like a telephone. Fundamental updates. Installed it, flashed it, added and changed some functions. We want to do the same with the prosthesis, essentially”, said Aleksey Akhmetshin.

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Social and environmental benefit

ATTILAN platform empowers and encourages people with disabilities to use affordable functional prosthetic hands with a high level of service every day. It makes their lives more convenient, brighter and happier by involving users in their rehabilitation process through motivational VR experiences, remote monitoring tools and addressing emotional challenges connected with rehabilitation.

Motorica’s innovation brings some significant societal benefits:

● Raise effectiveness of rehabilitation

● Prevent diseases connected with prosthesis abandonment

● Help to provide support at the right point of time

● Motivate and improves quality of life.

Interview

Aleksey Akhmetshin, Head of Marketing Department