The Castilla-La Mancha regional government, the Rafael del Pino Foundation and Indra sign an agreement to develop the TOyRA project

The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, through the Foundation of the National Paraplegic Hospital of Toledo for Investigation and integration, the Rafael del Pino Foundation and Indra, have signed an agreement today in Toledo in order to develop the TOyRA project (Occupational Therapy and Augmented Reality). The initiative of the three entities that includes this project, aims at cooperative research into new technologies in order to improve the quality of life of those who suffer from spinal cord injuries.

Roberto Sabrido Bermúdez, counsellor of the Health Department of the Castilla –La Mancha regional government, María Del Pino, Vice-president of the Rafel del Pino Foundation and Javier Monzón, Chairman of Indra, will sign the agreement.

The Health Counsellor reaffirmed that the intention of the signing parties goes beyond the development of a project, since “we agree in the positiveness and necessity of making the most of the application of new technologies to the health sector, for instance, the TOyRA project, and I am sure we will continue cooperating to develop initiatives that improve the quality of life of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries because the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha along with the Paraplegic hospital Foundation are determined to provide these patients with thorough care, assistance, rehabilitation, social and labour inclusion and research.

María del Pino, Vice-president of the Rafael del Pino Foundation emphasized: “Today’s event closes the second stage of a project by the Foundation that aims at the improvement of the quality of life of the affected, in compliance with the President of the Foundation’s wishes. The signing of the agreement is a real example of cooperation between public and private sectors at the same time it is a proof of how useful technological progress can be for people who suffer from spinal cord injuries. We have designed a procedure that will not end with this project, since upon conclusion a new stage provided with feedback will begin and its benefits will be reaped throughout the years”.

Javier Monzón, Chairman of Indra pointed out- “Indra is an entrepreneurial project characterised by innovation. We are inclined to apply our technological capabilities in favour of those who may not be benefited by the market and the signature of the agreement today is another step towards that goal.”

The TOyRA project aims at developing an occupational therapy platform which will facilitate management of more than one patient per physiotherapist at the same time it provides a proper automated follow-up management of every patient.

TOyRA is the first project to be developed within the agreement of investigation oriented to facilitate integration of the disable.

The Department of Health of the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha will carry out this project through the Foundation for labour and social inclusion of the National Paraplegic Hospital of Toledo, with Jose Maria Barreda as President of the regional government. The objective of the project is to promote care and labour inclusion of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries.

By initiative of its president, Rafael del Pino y Moreno, the Foundation started a programme of activities to improve the quality of life of those affected by spinal cord injuries. The objective will be achieved through three aspects: making daily life of the affected less difficult; development of sports centres and promotion of technological innovation, which is within the framework of this agreement.

This initiative is part of Indra’s Corporate Responsibility programme for innovation; in this case it is applied to the development of technologies that facilitate social integration for the disable. Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to stock market capitalisation, and it is one of the three Spanish companies with more investment in R&D. In 2007, revenues reached € 2.167 M, of which a third came from the international market. The company employs more than 24.000 professionals and has clients in more than 90 countries.

The TOyRA project

The project known as Occupational Therapy and Augmented Reality (TOyRA) aims at the creation of a platform which allows application of state-of-the-art technological systems to the development of Occupational Therapy activities.

Occupational therapy is a technique applied to rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries, in the case of the National Paraplegic Hospital of Toledo. Its objective is to help them rejoin daily life through devices or games that improve mobility, muscular strength and accuracy.

Augmented Reality is the creation of real situations in a virtual environment by means of systems based on state-of-the-art technology. Its objective is to promote and optimise results obtained through simulation or the like, in these patients.

The application of these new technological systems makes Occupational Therapy more effective, by means of either the devices or games equipped with sensors or complemented with new devices based on imagery treatment or WII.

The TOyRA project will increase benefits of the Occupational Therapy techniques by applying Augmented Reality technological systems. It is worth highlighting that thanks to the project, the patient will be able to go through remote rehabilitation.

The advantages of the application are:

-Increase of medical and physiotherapeutic care to patients since it supports follow up

-The Occupational Therapy’s games and devices become more attractive

- Creation of a data base out of the follow up of the patients that could be used as feedback for the Occupational Therapy