Bucheon-si to Introduce Walking Rehabilitation Robots in Second Half of Year... Selected for Socially Vulnerable Benefit Support Project Competition

(Left) Gait Rehabilitation Robot

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province has been selected for the "2021 Robot Utilization Socially Vulnerable Benefit Support Project" organized by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement with the content of the "Walking Rehabilitation Exercise Robot (Walk-Bot)".

According to the city on the 26th, Walk-Bot is a robot that maximizes the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatment by providing a personalized optimized walking motion training program to patients suffering from walking disabilities such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy using a state-of-the-art walking rehabilitation robot system.

Since 2018, the city has laid the groundwork for introducing walking rehabilitation robots by participating in the social vulnerable benefit support project briefing sessions, benchmarking rehabilitation robot operating institutions (Hwaseong City), and conducting needs surveys for people with walking disabilities. It formed a consortium with Bucheon Disabled Welfare Center, Bucheon Industrial Promotion Agency, and P&SM Mechanics Co., Ltd. to apply for this project.

Following the project selection, the city plans to receive project funding from the government and introduce Walk-Bot-G (Walk-Bot-G, walking rehabilitation robot) to the Bucheon Disabled Welfare Center in the second half of this year to provide customized walking training for people with physical and brain lesions disabilities and improve the rehabilitation treatment environment for people with walking disabilities.

The city plans to gradually expand the project over a three-year performance utilization period until 2024.

The Robot Utilization Socially Vulnerable Benefit Support Project is a pilot project of a convergence-type leading project as part of services for people with disabilities. It was promoted in response to the need for robot-utilized non-face-to-face care services and the increasing demand for medical and health services for people with disabilities in the post-COVID-19 era.

Mayor Jang Deokcheon stated, "As part of Bucheon-type New Deal project 'Smart Medical and Care Infrastructure Construction,' we are distributing the rehabilitation robot Walk-Bot," and added, "We will strive to maximize the project's effectiveness by reflecting the functions needed from the demanders' perspective in the robot."

Meanwhile, Bucheon City has been selected by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as a local government for a convergence-type leading project expanding to the elderly, disabled, and mentally ill. To universalize community integrated care, the city newly established the Integrated Care Division and expanded dedicated personnel through an organizational restructuring effective from the 1st of this month.

Additionally, by adding services in the fields of disability and mental health and strengthening cooperation systems with related institutions, Bucheon is accelerating the development of the "Bucheon-type Community Integrated Care" model.