A stunning and unprecedented double win at the final of the Blackwood Design Awards 2017/18 secured NEOFECT a place in the BDA hall of fame earlier this year. The South Korean tech company took home trophies for ‘Best Aids and Equipment’ and ‘Best Accessible Technology’ having bowled over the judges with the RAPAEL Smart Glove and RAPAEL Smart Pegboard – both of which are used in the rehabilitation and treatment of patients following serious injury or stroke.

Marketing Communication Manager at NEOFECT, Anna Choi answered some questions for bespoken, revealing how the win has impacted the company.

“We’re very proud to have our designs and contribution recognised in the Blackwood Design Awards – it’s a true honour” says Anna. “We’re all extremely excited at the prospect of the word spreading, which could see more people benefit from the glove. The awards will be a good reference for us when we sell our products to UK.”

RAPAEL Smart Rehabilitation Solutions helps patients undergoing physiotherapy to overcome difficulties and regain mobility.

The RAPAEL Smart Glove is a virtual reality glove that is transforming recovery times of stroke victims. It works using interactive gaming to encourage and motivate its users to keep repeating measured movements in their recovery phase. The glove helps to bring feeling and movement back to inactive parts of the hand, wrist and forearm.

Anna continues, “lots of stroke survivors give up rehabilitation due to cost constraints and distance to a treatment facility. We believe that by using game-based training, healthcare providers can help their patients stay positive about their recovery, which will lead to better rehabilitation experiences and more people getting back their health”.

The glove was co-invented by the CEO of NEOFECT, Hoyoung Ban, who recognised the need to advance the rehabilitation process after losing his father and later seeing two uncles fall victim to strokes.

This drive to break down obstacles that both patients and families face inspires and motivates Anna in her job. “The goal of rehabilitation is to help people to get back to their families, their jobs, their communities and to make the transition back to ordinary life comfortable.

“A veteran used our smart glove after he had his third stroke. He couldn’t bend his hand or move it but after using the Smart Glove he could, and he was doing everyday tasks like folding laundry.”

RAPAEL continuously records all of the movements that patients make and displays them on an integrated data form, so the patient can check the performance with the therapist after each practice set is done. This encourages patients and give them the feeling of “I can do it”.

Feedback from users of the Smart Glove has been hugely positive and NEOFECT’s reach is now global. “In America, between 400 and 500 individual patients use the Smart Glove right now and they love it as it has incredible results for patient recovery. It really has the potential to breathe a breath of fresh air into the way that we think of patient’s recovery process.”

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