PalmHealth: Advancing elderly rehabilitation with Leap Motion Controller and machine learning

PalmHealth opens exciting opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in northern Sweden. The project invites collaboration with local technology, gaming, and digital health companies to co-create the platform’s software, user interface, and data tools.

About the project

PalmHealth is an interdisciplinary research project at Luleå University of Technology that aims to make rehabilitation more accessible, personalized, and engaging. Using a small motion-tracking device called the Leap Motion Controller, the system captures hand and finger movements in real time and transforms ordinary rehabilitation exercises into interactive digital experiences. By combining this sensor technology with intelligent algorithms, PalmHealth adapts the exercises to each person’s progress, offering tailored guidance for patients recovering from neurological or age-related conditions such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

The project brings together experts in biomedical engineering, machine learning, and clinical neuroscience from Luleå University of Technology and Umeå University. Together with patient organizations, we are creating a rehabilitation solution that is safe, easy to use, and can be operated from home with remote support from healthcare professionals.

Social benefit

PalmHealth addresses one of the major healthcare challenges of our time: ensuring access to rehabilitation for an aging population. Many people in northern Sweden live far from hospitals and physiotherapy clinics, making continuous care difficult. By bringing rehabilitation directly into the home, PalmHealth empowers patients to take an active role in their recovery.

This approach saves time for both patients and healthcare providers and reduces travel costs and waiting times. The system’s engaging, game-like exercises can also motivate users to stick with their rehabilitation routines, leading to better long-term outcomes. For society, this means healthier, more independent older adults and a reduced burden on healthcare services. PalmHealth represents a step toward a future where precision health—providing the right care at the right time for the right individual—is available to everyone, regardless of where they live.

Benefit to local businesses (SMEs)

PalmHealth also opens exciting opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in northern Sweden. The project invites collaboration with local technology, gaming, and digital health companies to co-create the platform’s software, user interface, and data tools. Game developers within networks like Arctic Game and Boden Game Camp can contribute their creativity to design the interactive “exergames” that make rehabilitation more enjoyable.

HealthTech startups can explore new business models around remote monitoring, AI-based feedback, and personalized therapy services. By engaging these local innovators, PalmHealth strengthens the regional ecosystem for digital health and supports the growth of sustainable, knowledge-based industries in Norrland.

PalmHealth is supported by Norrlandsnavet and being developed at Luleå University of Technology.