EPICS in IEEE: An Innovative System Helps Keep Matters Close at Hand in India

Development of the “NeuroGlow” interactive rehabilitation device by a university team improves
hand-eye coordination for children and adults with special needs in underserved communities.

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, ADHD, or cerebral palsy often experience
challenges with hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and motor control, but many schools and therapy centers — especially those in under-resourced or rural communities in India — lack accessible, affordable, and objective tools for evaluating and enhancing these cognitive and motor skills.  This reality recently led a group of engineering students from KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology (KPRIET) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India (many of whom are active members of KPRIET’s IEEE Student Branch) to develop a solution.  Thanks to the “NeuroGlow” interactive rehabilitation device they designed through their EPICS in IEEE-driven, IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society (IMS)-funded project entitled “Interactive Hand-Eye Coordination Trainer for Special Needs Children,” special education providers and therapy professionals now have access to a cost-effective, engaging, and data-driven means of assessing and improving hand-eye coordination and motor response for the special needs community.

In the following interview, recent Biomedical Engineering graduate Bishnu Thakur – Project Lead of NeuroGlow, Founder & CEO of Savatronic Healthcare Technologies, and IEEE IMS Student Member — discusses the need for their innovation, the many skills he and fellow team members gained through the project, and why their EPICS in IEEE project was an invaluable experience.

Please share a bit about the scope of your project and the need for this initiative in your community.
Thakur:  In many rehabilitation centers across India, therapists often rely on repetitive manual exercises that can become monotonous and difficult to quantify, but commercial rehabilitation systems are typically too expensive for schools, small clinics, and rural healthcare centers.  Our system, NeuroGlow, is an affordable interactive rehabilitation device designed to improve hand-eye coordination, reaction time, cognitive engagement, and motor learning among children with developmental disorders and patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation.  NeuroGlow combines interactive LED-guided exercises, sensor-based response detection, and AI-driven performance analysis into a compact, affordable platform that transforms therapy into an engaging game while simultaneously collecting objective rehabilitation data that therapists can use to monitor patient progress over time.  Our goal is to make evidence-based rehabilitation technology more accessible, affordable, and scalable for underserved communities; towards that end, NeuroGlow is the flagship rehabilitation product being developed by Savatronic Healthcare Technologies, designed to deliver affordable, AI-enabled, and engaging neurological rehabilitation for children and adults.

How many people are on your team and what community partners did you align with?
Thakur:  Our multidisciplinary team consists of five students with backgrounds in biomedical engineering, electronics, embedded systems, software development, and artificial intelligence.  We collaborated with local special education professionals, rehabilitation therapists and centers (such as the Amrit Centre for Special Needs in Coimbatore), biomedical engineering faculty, and schools supporting children with developmental disabilities.  We’re also very grateful to the Anbalaya Development Education Centre, whose mentorship and encouragement have been instrumental in helping me transition from a student innovator to an entrepreneur and continue advancing the NeuroGlow project toward real-world impact.

What technologies did you employ as part of your project?
Thakur:  To help accurately measure reaction time, response consistency, hand-eye coordination performance, and session progress, NeuroGlow integrates everything from an embedded microcontroller platform, custom-designed LED interactive panel, and biomedical instrumentation to force-sensitive response sensors, real-time embedded programming, AI-based rehabilitation performance analytics, and a performance database for long-term tracking. 

What challenges did you encounter on your project and how did you address them?
Thakur:  Two of our biggest challenges involved balancing functionality with affordability, especially for institutions in developing regions, and designing activities that were engaging enough for children while still providing clinically meaningful rehabilitation data.  We addressed these issues in multiple prototype iterations by gathering continuous feedback from therapists, simplifying the user interface, improving sensor reliability, and focusing on low-cost but durable hardware components.

 

What are the results of your project and/or its impact on your target community so far?
Thakur:  During prototype evaluations, therapists appreciated the ability to objectively measure patient performance instead of relying solely on observational assessment, and children exhibited increased engagement because rehabilitation activities were presented as interactive games rather than repetitive exercises. Our project was also selected for presentation at both IEEE APSCON 2026 in February 2026 and IEEE’s I2MTC Project Showcase in May 2026. These promising outcomes reinforce NeuroGlow’s potential to support accessible rehabilitation in resource-limited settings. 

What key skills did you gain over the course of your project?
Thakur: On the technical side, we gained skills in embedded systems design, biomedical instrumentation, sensor integration, hardware prototyping, PCB development, AI-based data analysis, system validation, and human-centered design. In terms of professional development, we strengthened our project management, leadership, teamwork, communication, problem-solving, grant management, technical documentation, and presentation/public speaking skills.  Most importantly, we learned how engineering solutions should always begin with understanding real community needs.

What are your plans for the project and your hope for the role NeuroGlow will ultimately play in the community (or in the world)?
Thakur:  Looking ahead, we’re working to expand pilot testing in rehabilitation centers, conduct larger clinical validation studies, refine our AI-based performance analytics, improve our hardware durability, and prepare the system for regulatory compliance; we also plan to scale our manufacturing and commercialize NeuroGlow through Savatronic Healthcare Technologies, the healthcare startup I founded to develop accessible, AI-powered rehabilitation technologies for neurological care. We envision NeuroGlow becoming an affordable rehabilitation platform that enables every child and neurology patient to receive engaging, measurable, and personalized therapy regardless of their financial background or geographic location, thereby bridging the gap between rehabilitation science and affordable technology. By empowering therapists with objective data and making therapy more enjoyable for patients, we hope NeuroGlow will contribute to better rehabilitation outcomes worldwide and help improve millions of lives. 

Finally, what would you like to share about the funding/support you received from EPICS in IEEE and IEEE IMS and the value of the opportunity to participate in an EPICS in IEEE project?
Thakur:  Participating in the EPICS in IEEE program has been one of the most valuable experiences of our engineering journey. The program provided more than financial support — it gave us the confidence to transform an idea into a real healthcare solution with meaningful community impact.  The support from IEEE IMS enabled us to build prototypes, validate our design, collaborate with experts, and showcase our work on an international platform. We’re sincerely grateful to EPICS in IEEE and IEEE IMS for believing in student-led innovation and we encourage prospective program participants to focus on solving real-world problems. EPICS in IEEE provides an incredible opportunity to apply engineering knowledge beyond the classroom while creating technologies that genuinely improve people’s lives.

 

For more information on EPICS in IEEE or the opportunity to participate in service-learning projects, visit https://epics.ieee.org/.  “EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) in IEEE” is an initiative which provides opportunities for students to work proactively with both engineering professionals, technological innovation, and local organizations/partners to develop solutions that address global community challenges.