From Tuina to Robotics: NovaHealth TCM at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Education Conference 2026

AiTreat Managing Director and NovaHealth TCM Principal Physician, Ms Joanna Liew, introduces the EMMA AI Tuina robot to conference participants.

Behind every Tuina technique is clinical reasoning: where pressure is applied, how a movement is performed and why a practitioner selects one approach over another. That connection between hands-on knowledge and technology shaped NovaHealth TCM Clinic’s experience at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Education Conference 2026 with APIPEC Network on 25 to 26 September.

Over two days, healthcare professionals and educators visited our team to explore EMMA robotic massage technology and exchange perspectives on TCM, Tuina, healthcare education and the role of technology in care.

Clinical reasoning comes before robotics

On Day 1, AiTreat & NovaHealth TCM founder and CEO Albert Zhang, PhD, demonstrated Tuina techniques by hand. His training and experience in Chinese medicine helped shape EMMA’s development, making the demonstration a practical connection between clinical knowledge and engineering.

AiTreat founder and CEO Albert Zhang, PhD, demonstrates hands-on Tuina techniques, showing how pressure, placement and movement inform EMMA’s development.

Understanding the manual technique matters before translating any part of it into robotics. A practitioner considers the treatment area, the direction and rhythm of movement, the amount of pressure and the reason for selecting a particular approach. In TCM practice, those decisions may also include the selection of acupoints and treatment areas based on an individual assessment.

The aim is not to reduce Tuina to a mechanical movement. It is to identify which parts of a technique can be described, guided and repeated while keeping trained human judgment central to the process.

What is EMMA robotic massage technology?

The AiTreat team demonstrates an EMMA robotic Tuina session while explaining how treatment parameters are configured and monitored.

EMMA stands for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation. The system translates selected aspects of massage and Tuina practice into guided robotic movements. A trained operator sets the relevant parameters and monitors the session.

At the conference, EMMA became a starting point for wider questions: How can hands-on knowledge be explained clearly? Which elements can be documented and measured? How should technology support, rather than replace, professional judgment?

For readers who want to understand how NovaHealth uses the technology in practice, learn more about EMMA robotic Tuina at NovaHealth.

What has research found so far?

EMMA is also being studied. In a published single-arm pilot study conducted at Mayo Clinic, all 20 healthy volunteers completed the intervention and no adverse events were reported. Participants generally rated the experience positively.

These findings support the feasibility and acceptability of the system in that small group. They do not establish clinical effectiveness or show that EMMA is suitable for every condition or person. The researchers specifically called for further studies to optimise the system and assess clinical effectiveness.

Learning reimagined through conversation

The conference theme, “Learning Reimagined: Education for Tomorrow’s World”, invited participants to consider how healthcare education can evolve alongside new technology. For our team, this raised a practical question: could technologies such as EMMA make selected aspects of Tuina easier to explain, document and study?

AiTreat Managing Director and NovaHealth TCM Principal Physician, Ms Joanna Liew, introduces the EMMA AI Tuina robot and exchanges perspectives with conference key leaders.

Demonstrations alone cannot answer that question. Progress depends on conversations between practitioners, educators, researchers, engineers and the people receiving care. Each group brings a different perspective on what should be measured, what must remain under professional supervision and what evidence is still needed.

Building evidence step by step

For NovaHealth TCM, the conference was a meaningful part of a longer journey: bringing practitioner knowledge, technology and research into the same conversation while building evidence carefully, step by step.

Thank you to everyone who visited, shared their perspectives and asked thoughtful questions, and to the team behind every demonstration. We look forward to continuing these conversations across TCM practice, healthcare education and technology.

Explore EMMA and technology-assisted Tuina at NovaHealth TCM or speak with our team to learn how sessions are assessed and supervised.