The Team

PI: Dr Manuela Trejo, University of Leicester

Co-I: Dr Seth O’Neil, University of Leicester

Partners:

• Team BRIT
• Mr Harvey Phillips, Lead patient advocate

Project Summary

This project addresses the critical rehabilitation challenge of restoring independent mobility for upper and lower limb amputees. The team propose a novel, safe, and iterative testing environment using a high fidelity racing simulator rig to rapidly prototype and validate bespoke driving adaptations.

This approach allows the development process to be de-risked entirely, eliminating the safety concerns of testing early-stage prototypes on the road. They will partner directly with Team BRIT, a world leading competitive motorsport team dedicated to enabling drivers with disabilities, and their ambassador, quardruple-amputee para swimmer and aspiring racing driver Harvey Phillips. This partnership ensures the co-design process is grounded in the highest level of real-world expertise and immediate, passionate user engagement.

The project will clinically validate the unmet needs for adaptive driving technology and rigorously test the technical feasibility of their prototypes in a simulated environment. This will establish a robust evidence base for the commercial viability of a novel RehabTech solution, directly tackling health inequalities by empowering limb-different individuals to regain independence. The teams work will lay the foundation for a future commercial product, contributing to the Midlands’ growing MedTech economy and aligning with EMERGE’s mission to translate research into real-world impact.

Contact: mpptr1@leicester.ac.uk