AmalXR Is on a Mission to Make Virtual Rehabilitation Accessible and Affordable

Virtual rehabilitation uses simulations to help patients recovering from stroke, musculoskeletal injuries, or neurological disorders. It is often used with traditional rehabilitation therapy and can sometimes replace it completely, such as with home-based telerehabilitation.

The interactive simulations motivate and engage patients during repetitive therapy exercises, and they can also be personalised to fit a specific patient’s needs. Studies show that VR with conventional rehab may produce faster or better outcomes than conventional methods alone.

Tunisian startup Amal XR has developed a cost-effective solution for virtual rehabilitation that leverages interactive virtual games and a tablet or laptop camera.

Amal XR’s mission is to democratize virtual rehabilitation, making recovery engaging, measurable, and affordable for people with disabilities such as stroke, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis.

During a therapy exercise, the patient with a neurological disorder is given a colored ball to use as a control device for the game. The therapist adjusts some parameters and starts the game. Then, the device’s onboard camera detects the ball's movements and translates them into the virtual world of the chosen game.

The patient performs therapeutic exercises tailored to their needs, and the system analyzes performance in real-time. Following the exercise, the system reports the patient’s performance, allowing their progress to be monitored.

Amal XR’s platform does not require any specialized hardware, only a tablet or a laptop, making it a suitable solution for underfunded village clinics and remote home use.

The company was founded in 2018 in Sfax, a major port city in Tunisia. Mohamed Belgith, an occupational therapist at the Sfax University Hospital, ran experimental therapy sessions using free VR software. While the results were promising, the software was unable to generate reports describing the patients’ recovery.

With computer scientist Mohamed Kharrat and engineer Kais Siala, he entered the Hacking Health Hackathon in October 2018. His team won the special-jury prize at the competition and developed a prototype that used a full-immersion VR display and depth-camera tracking. But in 2020, they pivoted to the more accessible and affordable method of AI-based camera tracking on tablets and computers.

The company states that the platform is designed for practitioners in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and home therapy settings.

The word Amal means “hope” in Arabic. The company's name reflects its mission to restore hope and physical movement for people with neurological disorders. Several other companies use virtual reality technology for medical rehabilitation, but AmalXR’s hardware-agnostic, cross-platform approach sets it apart.

The company currently uses a 2D tracking solution that employs a tablet or laptop for motion detection and data analysis. It is reportedly building a 3D tracking platform for greater motion tracking as well as integrating haptic feedback for more realism.