An ever-increasing demand for physical and neurological rehabilitation after age-associated chronic diseases is posing a huge burden on the society welfare and healthcare providers. Cost-effective resources and instruments are needed to guarantee the continuum of care from the acute setting to the in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation, and to the home environment. Technological advancements have led to innovative solutions for movement assistance, monitoring, and treatment, to support patients across the rehabilitation and recovery pathway. In this context, wearable exoskeletons can support people affected by neurological conditions recovering their motor functions, either by aiding clinicians in providing effective rehabilitation treatments, or by assisting users in their daily-life activities. The wide adoption of wearable robots outside laboratory environment, from the in-clinic use to the home environment, is still restrained by open challenges regarding sensing, actuation, control, and physical and cognitive human-robot interaction, which limit their usability and users’ acceptability.
To serve rehabilitation in the continuum of care, wearable robots should address different type of functional tasks to allow individualized therapy and customization of the rehabilitation treatment across the different stages of recovery. Rigid exoskeletons and exosuits exhibit complementary features that make them suitable for physical training and assistance of patients with different levels of movement limitations, in the acute or chronic stage. Hybrid systems combining robotic assistance with functional electrical stimulation have been recently proposed to provide controlled muscular training while reducing the power requirements of the robot actuators.
An intensive cognitive stimulation can be provided by serious games based on augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR). While they offer the possibility to simulate daily-life scenarios in a clinical setting, they can increase patients’ engagement, motivation, and adherence to the treatment. In addition, AR/VR systems represent an affordable solution also for telerehabilitation and home-based therapy.
Wearable robots and AR/VR systems allow for quantitative measurement of kinematic and dynamic parameters to monitor the patients’ progresses along the recovery, complementing the clinical evaluation to better customize the treatment plan. Quantitative assessments of motor function performed has been proved capable to predict the possibility of recovery and might be exploited to plan the most appropriate treatment strategy.
This Research Topic seeks to present the latest advancements in the development of robotic technologies, including wearable robots, functional electrical stimulation and AR/VR systems, for the rehabilitation continuum of care. Original Research and Review articles are welcome.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Exoskeleton and exosuits for rehabilitation
- Exoskeleton and exosuits for daily-life assistance
- Hybrid FES-exoskeletons
- AR/VR systems and serious games
- Robotic assessment
- Telerehabilitation/telemonitoring
- Neuromechanical models for robot-aided rehabilitation
- Translation of wearable technologies to healthcare industry
An ever-increasing demand for physical and neurological rehabilitation after age-associated chronic diseases is posing a huge burden on the society welfare and healthcare providers. Cost-effective resources and instruments are needed to guarantee the continuum of care from the acute setting to the in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation, and to the home environment. Technological advancements have led to innovative solutions for movement assistance, monitoring, and treatment, to support patients across the rehabilitation and recovery pathway. In this context, wearable exoskeletons can support people affected by neurological conditions recovering their motor functions, either by aiding clinicians in providing effective rehabilitation treatments, or by assisting users in their daily-life activities. The wide adoption of wearable robots outside laboratory environment, from the in-clinic use to the home environment, is still restrained by open challenges regarding sensing, actuation, control, and physical and cognitive human-robot interaction, which limit their usability and users’ acceptability.
To serve rehabilitation in the continuum of care, wearable robots should address different type of functional tasks to allow individualized therapy and customization of the rehabilitation treatment across the different stages of recovery. Rigid exoskeletons and exosuits exhibit complementary features that make them suitable for physical training and assistance of patients with different levels of movement limitations, in the acute or chronic stage. Hybrid systems combining robotic assistance with functional electrical stimulation have been recently proposed to provide controlled muscular training while reducing the power requirements of the robot actuators.
An intensive cognitive stimulation can be provided by serious games based on augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR). While they offer the possibility to simulate daily-life scenarios in a clinical setting, they can increase patients’ engagement, motivation, and adherence to the treatment. In addition, AR/VR systems represent an affordable solution also for telerehabilitation and home-based therapy.
Wearable robots and AR/VR systems allow for quantitative measurement of kinematic and dynamic parameters to monitor the patients’ progresses along the recovery, complementing the clinical evaluation to better customize the treatment plan. Quantitative assessments of motor function performed has been proved capable to predict the possibility of recovery and might be exploited to plan the most appropriate treatment strategy.
This Research Topic seeks to present the latest advancements in the development of robotic technologies, including wearable robots, functional electrical stimulation and AR/VR systems, for the rehabilitation continuum of care. Original Research and Review articles are welcome.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Exoskeleton and exosuits for rehabilitation
- Exoskeleton and exosuits for daily-life assistance
- Hybrid FES-exoskeletons
- AR/VR systems and serious games
- Robotic assessment
- Telerehabilitation/telemonitoring
- Neuromechanical models for robot-aided rehabilitation
- Translation of wearable technologies to healthcare industry
