Wistron Medical Tech, a subsidiary of the Wistron Group, has signed a cooperation contract with the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) to provide exoskeleton robots for clinical tests at the hospital in a bid to tap the growing domestic market for lower limbs rehabilitation by the aging society.
The firm's president Donald Hwang, who doubles as Wistron's chief technology officer, and NTUH vice superintendent Yu Chong-jen inked the pact on March 7 on behalf of the respective sides.
Also witnessing the ceremony, Frank FC Lin, Wistron's chief of staff, said that Wistron will gradually deepen collaborations with NTUH by developing more advanced exoskeleton robots through technical cooperation with related organizations and startups in Taiwan, Japan, the US, Canada and Israel.
NTUH's Yu said that his hospital, long engaged in medical rehabilitation services, has developed special techniques and distinct experiences, and the cooperation with Wistron can maximize the synergies of tech research and applications and provide more friendly medical services to the social public.
In June 2017, Wistron Medical Tech officially partnered with Canada-based Bionik Laboratories to design, engineer and manufacture low-price, lower-body assistive robotic products for mass commercial sales in the consumer home products market.
The company is also in cooperation with Free Bionics, a startup associated with the Taiwan government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), to develop assistive exoskeleton robots for wheelchair users. Free Bionics will soon venture its products into the Japan market, based on a contract signed in 2017 with USCI Japan, a major supplier of medical devices.
Besides NTUH, Wistron has also partnered with Cathay General Hospital for clinical trials of its smart powered exoskeleton robots, and expects to get official accreditations from the Taiwan hospital by 2020 at the latest.
Wistron signs a contract with NTUH
Photo: Ninelu Tu, Digitimes, March 2018
Article translated by Willis Ke
