When it is finished next year, Toronto Rehab's $36 million Intelligent Design for Adaptation, Participation and Technology (iDAPT) will be one of the world's most advanced rehabilitation research and development facilities. In building it, Toronto Rehab and its partners at the University of Toronto say they have taken advantage of the innovations of several cutting-edge GTA companies.
"Creating this amazing research space has been a complex endeavour," says Dr. Geoff Fernie, VP of Research for Toronto Rehab. "And it's certainly thrown a few curves our way. We've been fortunate to draw on the expertise of so many Canadian companies."
CIMCO Refrigeration, for instance, was called on to build a movable ice floor for an ice chamber that will simulate winter conditions at the lab, the only one of its kind in the world. Software to control the simulator in the underground lab was custom-built by Markham's
Quanser Inc. An overhead robotic safety system was designed by Toronto's
Nuspark Inc. Meanwhile, movable plates across which study participants will walk were created by
A-Tech Instruments.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2011, and will be used to study older people and those with disabilities as they encounter challenges that mimic those faced in real life inside the lab's underground chamber.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Carolyn Lovas, Toronto Rehab