Maxime Robert receives ISVR’s Early Career Investigator Award 2024

Congratulations to Maxime Robert, winner of the 2024 Early Career Investigator Award from the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR)! The award, which recognizes and honors outstanding leadership and dedication, will be officially presented to him at the organization’s next world congress, to be held in Amsterdam from June 26 to 28, 2024.

Each year, ISVR brings together interdisciplinary experts engaged in cutting-edge research, clinical advancement and entrepreneurial exploration, offering an in-depth presentation of new technologies and clinical developments in virtual reality (VR), extended reality (ER) and advances applied to rehabilitation.

Maxime Robert has been an assistant professor at Université Laval’s École des sciences de réadaptation since 2019 and a researcher at Cirris. His research program covers a broad spectrum and has enabled him to acquire and develop unique multidisciplinary expertise in motor control, learning and the development of intensive intervention with virtual reality for children with cerebral palsy.

Among the innovations in the field of virtual rehabilitation that earned him this prestigious award:

The clinical use of active video games for children with cerebral palsy:
Children with diplegic cerebral palsy exercise at a similar intensity to typically developing children when playing on an active video game console. This was demonstrated by Professor Robert in a study cited more than 60 times by the scientific community, proving that active video games can promote physical fitness in children with cerebral palsy.

Motor learning, the role of sensation and the use of virtual reality in children with cerebral palsy:
Professor Robert and his team have demonstrated that after intensive functional intervention using a virtual reality system, motor improvements can not only be retained, but also transferred to a similar task. The functional task adapted to the study is now being used in other laboratories, notably in studies on adult stroke victims.

A clinical site for intensive interventions with children suffering from cerebral palsy:
In partnership with clinicians at CHU Sainte-Justine’s Centre de réadaptation Marie Enfant, Pr Robert and his team have set up a summer training camp for children with cerebral palsy. This 2-week, 60-hour intensive therapy integrates virtual reality into an intensive reference intervention, offering a range of exercises not usually performed in a clinical setting. The clinical trial began in summer 2022 and is due to be repeated over the next five years. Around 60 children will benefit.

Virtual reality in the service of adapted physical activity for people with neurological disorders
A virtual platform can be a valuable tool for clinicians wishing to offer stimulating and motivating physical rehabilitation activities to people with physical disabilities, in a variety of settings, including the home. In collaboration with technology and community partners, Professor Robert is developing innovative solutions to promote physical activity using virtual reality outside the clinical setting.

For more information: communications@cirris.ulaval.ca