Around 12 million people worldwide suffer a stroke every year, while approximately 94 million stroke survivors continue to live with the effects of the condition. The HYDROTHERABOTS project aims to address this major health challenge by using artificial intelligence and robotic systems to make the process of learning to walk again safer, measurable, and personalized. TED University plays a leading role in the project’s artificial intelligence, data analysis, and virtual reality research.
Editor’s note: This press release has been translated and localized into English with the assistance of AI.
Launched in October 2025, the 24-month project combines hydrotherapy with robotic systems and artificial intelligence. HYDROTHERABOTS is supported by the TÜBİTAK 1071 Programme and the Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council as part of an international collaboration between Türkiye and Qatar. The project has a total budget of TRY 24 million.
The TED University team is led by Prof. Dr. Gökçe Nur Yılmaz, Head of the Department of Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, while Dr. Ulaş Güleç is responsible for project management.
The project involves developing robotic walkers that can be used both on land and in water. Rather than simply carrying patients, the systems will use sensors to monitor their movements and provide support or resistance when needed.
Data on movement, muscle and brain activity, heart rate, breathing, and task performance will be assessed simultaneously. Using this information, artificial intelligence models will help adapt each patient’s rehabilitation programme to their individual progress.
Prof. Dr. Gökçe Nur Yılmaz, Head of the Department of Computer Engineering at TED University’s Faculty of Engineering and the university’s project lead, explained that the team analyses data from different sensors, including those measuring movement, muscle activity, and brain activity. She noted that this data is used to develop indicators that track patients’ progress and highlighted the importance of personalized artificial intelligence models.
“We aim for our models not only to monitor patients’ progress but also to dynamically adapt the rehabilitation programme according to their performance. The system will also help identify unusual situations that may pose safety risks at an early stage. Our goal is not to replace therapists, but to support their decision-making processes and help them reach more patients,” she said.
Dr. Ulaş Güleç, who manages the project, explained that the team is combining robotic systems, sensors, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality in an integrated system that adapts to patients’ movements and progress. He also highlighted the role of virtual reality applications in rehabilitation.
“With the virtual reality scenarios we are developing, we aim to allow patients to experience movements they may encounter in daily life in a controlled and safe environment. This will help us make the rehabilitation process more realistic and monitor patients’ responses through measurable data,” he said.
During the clinical phase, safety and comfort studies will first be conducted with healthy volunteers. This will be followed by a controlled clinical study involving 120 stroke patients, who will be divided into four groups.
The study will compare robot-assisted hydrotherapy, robot-assisted gait training on land, conventional hydrotherapy, and standard land-based therapy. Patients’ progress will be monitored using both clinical assessment scales and sensor data. This will allow researchers to scientifically evaluate the effects of different approaches on walking ability.
HYDROTHERABOTS also provides an interdisciplinary research environment for TED University students and young researchers. Undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship holders involved in the project will gain experience applying their knowledge of artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, and biomedical signal processing to a real clinical challenge.
The project is scheduled for completion on October 1, 2027. It aims to develop robotic walker prototypes for use on land and in water, virtual reality applications, and personalized artificial intelligence models. The results are expected to support scientific publications and patent applications, contribute to the development of rehabilitation technologies in Türkiye, and help more patients access personalized treatment options.
