Press Play on Recovery

By Alex Becker

Stroke rehabilitation can hinge on a deceptively hard task: doing the same small movements over and over again, often at home and often without the encouragement of a therapist. A team of Rice engineering students wondered whether the experience could feel less like homework — and more like a game.

Their answer is TacTile, an interactive, modular rehabilitation system designed to make stroke recovery more engaging, adaptable and effective for patients at home.

Created in Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, TacTile earned top honors at the HUFF OEDK Engineering Design Showcase in April, winning first place in the Willy Revolution Award for Outstanding Innovation. The team was also selected as the sole North American representative for the international IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Student Design Competition in Shanghai, where the project won first place.

The students — Amelia Pillar ’26, Avery Janenda ’26, Brian Mercado ’26, Hannah Wixom ’26, Mina Schepmann ’26 and Tomi Kuye ’26 — set out to address a persistent challenge in stroke recovery: how to keep patients motivated and consistent with therapy once they leave the clinic.

“After a stroke, patients might spend an hour a day in clinical rehab, but they’re expected to continue hundreds of repetitive exercises at home,” Pillar says. “That can be incredibly monotonous. We wanted to create something that makes the rehab process more engaging while also helping patients actually see their progress over time.”

TacTile transforms upper-extremity rehabilitation into an interactive gaming experience. The system consists of modular “tiles” with interchangeable sensor tops that target different movements of the wrist, fingers and elbow. The tiles function as game controllers, allowing users to complete therapy exercises while playing digital games.

“Essentially, the user is playing games on a screen while interacting with the tiles,” Kuye says. “Behind the scenes, we’re tracking metrics like speed, accuracy and how often they hit targets. That data helps paint a picture of their progress.”

The system’s interchangeable components are designed to support different stages of recovery, from gross motor movement to fine motor control.

“We designed four different tile tops, each targeting a specific function,” Schepmann says. “There’s a large button for elbow and wrist movement, a pegboard for fine motor skills, a keypad for finger extension, and a joystick for wrist rotation and grip strength. The idea is that therapy can evolve with the patient.”

From the outset, the team worked closely with rehabilitation specialists to ensure the device addressed real clinical needs. “We collaborated with therapists throughout the design process, from early concept development to testing prototypes,” Wixom says. “One of the biggest advantages of our system is its modularity. If a therapist identifies a movement we haven’t covered, new tile tops can be developed to meet that need.”

Although the students graduated this spring, they remain committed to improving recovery outcomes by making rehabilitation something patients want to do.

“If we can make therapy more engaging and help patients stay consistent, we believe we can make a real difference in their recovery,” Janenda says.

From the Fall 2026 issue of Rice Magazine