Embedded Sensing and Computing (ESC) Group
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mRehab: AI-Powered Home-Based Physical Rehabilitation

Project Overview

Impairments following stroke make it one of the leading causes of disability. Many individuals with stroke do not recover complete function of the upper limb at time of discharge from clinical services. Moreover, early stage improvements may wane following the cessation of formal therapies. Regaining as much upper limb function as possible is important, as even mild impairments are associated with limitations in daily function and lower health- related quality of life. Thus, finding ways to augment functional mobility is important. The overarching purpose of this project is to use portable technology, affordable for home use, to provide objective feedback on performance of upper limb motor tasks to individuals with residual deficits following chronic conditions such as stroke. Objective feedback serves to better inform the participant of their progress and actively engage them in their rehabilitation, thus encouraging self-management of rehabilitation. We propose that coupling smart technology found in readily available smartphones with three-dimensional (3D) printing provides a scalable option to provide feedback in long-term rehabilitation and advances the current standard of care, i.e. written home exercise programs. We will build upon our current research, further developing and validating a novel in-home rehabilitation system, namely mRehab, using 3D printing technologies, smart devices and machine learning algorithms. Specifically, we will use emerging low- cost 3D printing techniques to augment off-the-shelf smart devices (e.g., smartphones) into functional rehabilitation tools. The built-in sensors and our machine learning apps in smartphones can quantify characteristics of movement and provide actionable feedbacks to users during in-home rehabilitation.

ESC Group Team

Professor
Wenyao Xu
Postdoctoral researchers
Wei Bo; Anarghya Das
Ph.D. student
Alexander Gherardi
Undergraduate researchers
Tanmay Anishkumar Master; Het Patel
Former ESC students
Chen Song; Zhengxiong Li; Baicheng Chen; Matthew Stafford; Zhuolin Yang; Xingyu Chen; Kritarth Dandapat

Collaborators

  • Sutanuka Bhattacharjya — Occupational Therapy, Georgia State University
  • Lora Cavuoto — Industrial and Systems Engineering, University at Buffalo
  • Hang Jin Jo — Rehabilitation Science, University at Buffalo
  • Veronica Rowe — Occupational Therapy, Georgia State University
  • Heamchand Subryan — Interaction Design, UB IDEA Center

Former collaborators

  • Jeanne Langan — Rehabilitation Science
  • Feng Lin — former UB research faculty

Publications

  1. From Community Feedback to Measurement Redesign: Iterating mRehab for Accessible Home-Based Stroke Rehabilitation.International Workshop on Human-Centered Sensing, Modeling, and Intelligent Systems (HumanSys), Austin, TX, October 2026 (forthcoming). [BibTeX]Emily Liu, Kritarth Dandapat, Tanmay Anishkumar Master, Anarghya Das, Alexander Gherardi, Wei Bo, Lora Cavuoto, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Heamchand Subryan, Wenjie Ji, Wenyao Xu.
  2. Demo: mRehab: A Clinically Grounded Smartphone System for Home Rehabilitation.ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom), Demo Track, Austin, TX, October 2026 (forthcoming). [BibTeX]Kritarth Dandapat, Anarghya Das, Tanmay Anishkumar Master, Het Patel, Alexander Gherardi, Matt Szigeti, Paul Reddipogu, Wei Bo, Mingxi Lei, Lora Cavuoto, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu.
  3. mRehab 2.0: A Voice-Guided, Intelligent System for Home Stroke Rehabilitation.International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM), Future Scientist Session presentation, Buffalo, NY, August 2026. Mentors: Wei Bo and Wenyao Xu. [BibTeX]Emily Liu, Henry Yang.
  4. mRehab: A Community-engaging Study of an AI-powered Mobile Rehabilitation System.ACRM Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, October 2025. [PDF] [BibTeX]Anarghya Das, Tanmay Anishkumar Master, Wei Bo, Wenjie Ji, Alexander Gherardi, Rohin Kumar, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Lora Cavuoto, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu.
  5. Engaging in a Home-based Exercise Program: A Mixed-methods Approach to Identify Motivators and Barriers for Individuals with Stroke.Assistive Technology, 35(6), 487–496, 2023. [PDF] [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Isabelle Linares, Jeanne Langan, Wenyao Xu, Heamchand Subryan, Lora Cavuoto.
  6. A Progressive Prediction Model Towards Home-based Stroke Rehabilitation Programs.Smart Health, 23, article 100239, March 2022. [PDF] [BibTeX]Wei Bo, Lora Cavuoto, Jeanne Langan, Heamchand Subryan, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Ming-Chun Huang, Wenyao Xu.
  7. Usability, Usefulness, and Acceptance of a Novel, Portable Rehabilitation System (mRehab) Using Smartphone and 3D Printing Technology: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR Human Factors, 8(1), e21312, January 2021. [PDF] [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Lora Cavuoto, Brandon Reilly, Wenyao Xu, Heamchand Subryan, Jeanne Langan.
  8. In-home Rehabilitation using a Smartphone App Coupled with 3D Printed Functional Objects: Single Subject Design Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 8(7), July 2020. [PDF] [BibTeX]Jeanne Langan, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu, Baicheng Chen, Zhengxiong Li, Lora Cavuoto.
  9. RehabPhone: A Software-Defined Tool using 3D Printing and Smartphones for Personalized Home-based Rehabilitation.ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys), Toronto, Canada, June 2020. [PDF] [BibTeX]Hanbin Zhang, Gabriel Guo, Emery Comstock, Baicheng Chen, Xingyu Chen, Chen Song, Jerry Ajay, Jeanne Langan, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Lora Cavuoto, Wenyao Xu.
  10. QM-FOrMS: A Portable and Cost-Effective Upper Extremity Rehabilitation System.Smart Health, 14, December 2019. [PDF] [BibTeX]Feng Lin, Jerry Ajay, Jeanne Langan, Lora Cavuoto, Ifeoma Nwogu, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu.
  11. Harnessing Smartphone Technology and Three Dimensional Printing to Create a Mobile Rehabilitation System, mRehab: Assessment of Usability and Consistency in Measurement.Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 16, article 127, October 2019. [PDF] [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Matthew Stafford, Lora Cavuoto, Zhuolin Yang, Chen Song, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu, Jeanne Langan.
  12. User's Impressions of mRehab, a Novel Portable Rehabilitation System for Upper Extremity.Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 100(10), e139, October 2019 (abstract). [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Lora Cavuoto, Zhengxiong Li, Baicheng Chen, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu, Jeanne Langan.
  13. mRehab: A Portable Self-management System for Function-oriented Home-based Stroke Rehabilitation.Network in Aging of Western New York, poster, Buffalo, NY, November 2018. Best Poster Award. [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Chen Song, Lora Cavuoto, Wenyao Xu, Jeanne Langan.
  14. Understanding User Requirements for the Design of a Home-Based Stroke Rehabilitation System.Human Factors and Ergonomics Society International Annual Meeting (HFES), Philadelphia, PA, October 2018. [PDF] [BibTeX]Lora Cavuoto, Heamchand Subryan, Matthew Stafford, Zhuolin Yang, Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Wenyao Xu, Jeanne Langan.
  15. Assessing the Functionality of a Portable Rehabilitation System Used for Self-management of Upper Extremity Function by Individuals with Stroke.American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference (AOTA), poster, Salt Lake City, UT, April 2018. [PDF] [BibTeX]Sutanuka Bhattacharjya, Matthew Stafford, Zhuolin Yang, Chen Song, Wenyao Xu, Lora Cavuoto, Heamchand Subryan, Jeanne Langan.
  16. BiGRA: A Preliminary Bilateral Hand Grip Coordination Rehabilitation Using Home-Based Evaluation System for Stroke Patients.IEEE Annual Body Sensor Networks Conference (BSN), Las Vegas, NV, March 2018. [PDF] [BibTeX]Tri Vu, Hoan Tran, Chen Song, Feng Lin, Jeanne Langan, Lora Cavuoto, Susan H. Brown, Wenyao Xu.
  17. A Home-based Functional Hand-Extremity Assessment System for Stroke Rehabilitation.ACM/IEEE International Conference on Connected Health: Applications, Systems and Engineering Technologies (CHASE), demo, Philadelphia, PA, July 2017. [PDF] [BibTeX]Tri Vu, Hoan Duc Tran, Feng Lin, Jeanne Langan, Lora Cavuoto, Wenyao Xu.
  18. A Portable and Cost-Effective Upper Extremity Rehabilitation System for Individuals with Upper Limb Motor Deficits.IEEE Annual Wireless Health Conference (WH), Bethesda, MD, October 2016. [PDF] [BibTeX]Feng Lin, Jerry Ajay, Jeanne Langan, Lora Cavuoto, Ifeoma Nwogu, Heamchand Subryan, Wenyao Xu.

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