Worcester Polytechnic Institute's PracticePoint is a membership-based research, development, and commercialization alliance founded to advance healthcare technologies. This facility will bring together a community of research institutions, healthcare providers, and companies to work collaboratively on new technologies and incorporate them quickly into commercially viable products. In January 2020, PracticePoint officially opened its doors to the Massachusetts digital health ecosystem. The new state-of-the-art facility includes four unique ‘point-of-practice’ clinical care settings: a fully instrumented living space, a state-of-the-art motion capture lab, a two-bed modular patient care suite and a functional operating room. Companies partnering with PracticePoint will have access to state of the art equipment, clinical partners within WPI’s ecosystem, and WPI researchers and experts. Benefits of PracticePoint membership include:
- Flexible testing and work spaces to allow for a multitude of experiments
- Manufacturing spaces co-located with the testing facilities, including: CNC manufacturing; laser cutting; electronics assembly and testing equipment; 3D printing
- Access to research-grade equipment to obtain ground-truth measurements
- Access to existing IRB for user studies and focus groups
- A flexible wireless networking infrastructure in a realistic setting
- Ability to conduct cybersecurity development and testing at device, networking and data storage levels
- Collaborative research opportunities with WPI faculty experts in areas including: user design / user interface; assessing cognitive load; medical robotics; biomechanics; sensor design and medical IOT; image-guided robotic interventions; smart prosthetics
- Clinical partners within the WPI ecosystem, including hospital administrators, doctors, surgeons, and nursing care staff
- Multi-modality cross-validation of new designs with industry standards
Examples of opportunities for members of PracticePoint:
Design Exoskeletons, Prosthetics, and Wearable Physical Assistive Devices:
- Use the Motion Capture Lab for individual kinematics/anatomy studies
- Access the Residential Suite to mimic real living scenarios for user testing
- Use the 3D MRI and CT Medical Imaging Suites to map individuals for personalized prosthetics, implants, and sockets
Test Transport and Telehealth Solutions:
- Access the Residential Suite to test home health hubs for monitoring motion, vital signs, etc., including the use of motion capture technology
- Use the Residential Suite to test equipment to assist with disabilities and aging in the home, including gantry system for transporting and assisting unstable users or robots
- Conduct sleep studies in the Residential Suite
- Test telehealth devices in realistic hospital and home care settings