Rehabilitation therapists can now operate robotic controls remotely, helping patients in out-of-the-way places perform the physical therapy they need to recover the use of their limbs. Stroke specialists have tested the system, which was developed at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, to help rural stroke victims learn to use their arms and hands again.

Another possible application of the technology would allow soldiers wounded in action to return to their homes, rather than staying for months at the specialized clinics in Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals.