United Kingdom: Therapeutic augmented reality

United Kingdom-based company, Strolll, is commercialising augmented reality glasses that assist sufferers of neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis through interactive physical games. Its digital technology can be used both at home and in a clinical environment to ameliorate physiotherapy sessions.

Some of the positive impacts of augmented reality use in the healthcare sector for improving motor functioning in patients are cited as increased engagement and progress monitoring. With augmented reality devices complementing physiotherapy, gait and balance can improve faster.

Eureka was the oxygen we needed in the early days of the company. It enabled Strolll to take its innovative idea and develop it further in the next stages. Eurostars was critical in demonstrating early traction, which enabled us to raise a pre-seed investment round from venture capitalists of about 700,000 pounds sterling. Ultimately, we have now gone on to raise more than 13 million pounds in investment and grown our team to over 40 people.

Jorgen Ellis – co-founder and CEO at Strolll

Strolll’s name alludes to a spark of creation moment that led to the company’s inception. In a Buckinghamshire household kitchen, co-founder Tom Finn and his father, a Parkinson’s disease sufferer, explored how cueing therapy exercises using coloured lines, symbolised by the three Ls in Strolll, could help patients overcome a freezing gait. Ever since, Finn and co-founder Jorgen Ellis have made it their mission to design a software for immersive rehabilitation.

It was in a Eureka project named MAGIC CUE that Strolll further developed its core product, Reality DTx®. Whilst the project goal was to attain technology readiness level eight and commence clinical trials, within two years of its completion, Strolll went further and commercialised an all-in-one digital healthcare tool in the form of augmented reality glasses.

Reality DTx® works by gamifying movements in real-world settings. Patients are guided through audiovisual cueing exercises to repeat movements and build motor skills that can enrich their day-to-day lives.

Although Strolll and project partner, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, knew of each other’s research in the physical rehabilitation domain prior to the project, the two organisations had never previously worked together. Eureka’s bottom-up philosophy enabled the international cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as it gave the partners the freedom to define research goals. The partners consolidated ideas, culminating in the innovation of Reality DTx®.

By partnering on this project together, Strolll and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam could enhance research quality, expand expertise, develop networks and access diverse resources, trends that funding agency Innovate UK observes across its international projects.

Since the end of the MAGIC CUE project, Strolll’s Reality DTx® device has been deployed in clinics in the United Kingdom and United States of America. In a European Innovation Council Accelerator project, the company is conducting clinical evaluations that will result in European Union compliance for marketing Reality DTx® in the single market. Strolll have obtained further investment of 2.4 million British pounds in grants and follow on funding of 10.3 million British pounds from IW Capital. The intangible value of Reality DTx® can be measured in the enhancement of patient lives.