The VinUni–Illinois Smart Health Center is pleased to share an ongoing knee rehabilitation project milestone led by Dr. Thai Mai Thanh, Principal Investigator at VISHC and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The project, KNEESENSE, introduces a low-cost wearable system for real-time knee rehabilitation monitoring and has been published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal.
Knee rehabilitation is an important part of recovery after injury, yet access to regular rehabilitation support can be limited by cost, distance, and the difficulty of following therapy consistently at home. To address this challenge, especially in communities where access to rehabilitation facilities or specialized clinical monitoring may be limited, KNEESENSE is being developed as a wearable wireless device that can monitor knee joint movement during rehabilitation exercises. The system uses hydraulic filament sensing, a soft sensing mechanism that helps measure knee angles while remaining lightweight and comfortable for users.
At the core of the device is a wearable hydraulic filament sensor integrated into a knee pad. The sensor is paired with a wireless data acquisition unit, which transmits joint angle data to a mobile application. This allows patients and clinicians to track movement more conveniently, supporting a more accessible approach to home-based rehabilitation.
Overview of the knee rehabilitation system. Source: UIUC
According to the published study, the system was designed with affordability, portability, and usability in mind. The wearable hydraulic filament sensor costs about USD 5, while the reusable wireless data acquisition unit costs about USD 20. This makes the device a low-cost wearable system with potential for broader use in communities where advanced rehabilitation technologies may still be difficult to access.
Beyond its technical design, the project reflects the value of interdisciplinary and international collaboration in smart health research. The work brings together expertise in wearable sensing, biomechanics, rehabilitation, data acquisition, and human-centered health technology. It is supported by the VinUni–Illinois Smart Health Center, a collaboration between VinUniversity and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
From VinUniversity, the project is led by Dr. Thai Mai Thanh. The broader research team includes collaborators from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, including Prof. Elizabeth T. Hsiao-Wecksler, Prof. Girish Krishnan, and Dr. Phuong Cao, as well as collaborators from UNSW Sydney.
This VinUni–UIUC collaboration highlights how research supported by VISHC can move toward practical healthcare applications. By combining engineering innovation with real-world rehabilitation needs, KNEESENSE demonstrates the potential of smart health technologies to support more accessible and patient-centered rehabilitation.
👉 For more information, please visit the full story published by the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the paper in Scientific Reports: https://mechse.illinois.edu/news/83040.
