Alberto Ferreras
Villardeciervos (Zamora) (EFE) This is the future of care that is shown at the International Fair of Innovation and Technology at the Service of the Citizens (Fitecu) that is held from this Thursday in Villardeciervos (Zamora).
This event, which takes place until Saturday in a town of 400 inhabitants in Zamora, shows some of the advances that are being developed in Spanish R&D centers or that have already begun to be implemented and marketed to improve the autonomy and quality of lives of elderly and dependent people.
In the field of robotics, the star is Nao, a small half-meter humanoid of Japanese origin that Spanish companies have used to adapt it for different uses, such as to combat unwanted loneliness or accompany hospitalized people and reduce their anxiety.
The company Alesys, in charge of its development, has already tested its use at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona or at the Universitario Central de Asturias in Oviedo, according to EFE, the director of robotics business development, Georgina Díaz, who details that The cost of this robot that speaks twenty languages is around 7,000 euros.
More expensive, about 20,000 euros, can cost Furhat, a robot in the shape of a human face used in cognitive rehabilitation.
In this area, another example of technologies that make life easier for people who require care is presented by the Iberus Network, a conglomerate of technology centers in the Basque Country, Castilla y León, Asturias and Valencia, which has used electronics , artificial intelligence and image to support the rehabilitation of people who have suffered a stroke.
A remote assistant, as explained by the Íberus developer Manuel González, allows rehabilitation to be carried out from home without having to travel to specific centers and this technology allows monitoring progress in the exercises and transmitting the data to the physiotherapist.
Technology-assisted walkers that prevent falls and facilitate going up and down, these skeletons that from 750 euros prevent the back of bedridden caregivers from suffering or an invention “made in Valladolid” that helps people with disabilities get out of bed reduced mobility in the lower body are other novelties shown in Fitecu.
Made in Castilla y León
Also made in Castilla y León, specifically at the Cartif technology center, it is an adaptation that allows quadriplegic people to use their neck to control an arm-shaped robot that feeds autonomously, without the need for a caregiver to be present.
The fair also shows simpler but equally effective solutions, such as adapters that come out of the 3D printers of the Castilla y León cerebral palsy associations and that help people with mobility limitations to write, handle a toothbrush or use a nail clipper.
In the same way, the Spanish Red Cross presents its telecare solutions adapted to people with hearing or visual disabilities, paraplegia or color blindness.
This third sector entity has taken advantage of the fair and its celebration in a small town in Zamora to publicize its first mobile office designed to bring social intervention services to rural areas.
Fitecu is held until next Saturday the 25th with an area for demonstrations and innovation companies and another for presentations in which 35 speakers from countries such as Japan or Argentina take part and which was inaugurated this Thursday by the president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, and, electronically, the Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica. EFE
