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Global pioneer in paediatric robotics
Elena Garcia Armada is an industrial engineer, born
in Valladolid in 1971. After
receiving her doctorate in robotics, she began to
design industry-oriented robots. However, in 2009
she met Daniela, a girl who was left
with severe tetraplegia after a traffic accident. This
meeting caused a radical change in her
research career, and from then on she focused on
making devices designed to
improve physical abilities, contribute to the
rehabilitation and increase the mobility of children
suffering from degenerative
neuromuscular diseases.
Garcia Armada leads the group at the Spanish
Research Council that developed the world's
first bionic exoskeleton for children with spinal
muscular atrophy, a degenerative disease
without cure. It is estimated that thanks to her,
more than 120,000 children in the world might
walk again.
She is also the founder of Marsi Bionics,
a company whose aim is to research
and create paediatric
exoskeletons. These structures are adjustable
supports modelled to the child's legs and chest
, and which incorporate small engines that mimic
the functioning of muscles, providing
strength to walk and stand up.
Her ATLAS2020 model is equipped with
smart joints that interpret the movements of
the patient, detecting what are desired and
unwanted movements.
Elena Garcia Armada is considered one of the
10 brightest scientists in Spain and has received awards for her scientific and innovative
activity, such as the Innova Award eVIA 2014,
the CEPY Prize - ME 2015 for the Best Entrepreneurial Project or the ABC Health Award to
the Best Health Technology in 2016. In 2018,
she received the Gold Medal of Madrid.
She is
currently a tenured scientist at the Centre for
Automatic and Robotics (CAR) CSICUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM