Given the success of the first edition of
EMG/EEG Signals-based Control of Assistive and Rehabilitation Robots and the continuing advances in the field, we are pleased to announce the Volume II.
Assistive and Rehabilitation Robots have rapidly been developed in recent years. These robots have provided opportunities for individuals with limb disabilities to improve their quality of life and independence. As a result physically weak persons can make their lives more comfortable and useful to society.
Assistive and Rehabilitation robot technology plays a vital role and has developed expanding the robotics field and its applications for a user-friendly purpose. EMG signals have extensively been used to control the Assistive and Rehabilitation robots such as exoskeleton robots so that the wearer is free of actuating any additional device to control the robot. Furthermore, recent literature shows that many studies have been carried out to investigate the possibility of using EEG signals to control robotic devices. Since EEG signals can represent the motion intentions of the robot wearer, they are potential inputs for the controllers of exoskeleton robots.
Research on exoskeleton robots integrates advanced mechatronics and intelligent sensing to restore weak sensorimotor functions. Exoskeleton robots have been applied for tremor assessments and suppression and neuro rehabilitations in recent studies. Furthermore, in the last few decades, many significant contributions have been made in this field. Exoskeleton robots still have a margin for development and advance, to enable a synergetic interaction with the user and to generate human-like motions.
The articles in the first volume of this research topic underlined both the promise and the challenges faced by the field of assistive and rehabilitation robots. The articles further recognized the need for additional perspective on the control of these robotic devices.
The second volume of this research topic also aims at creating a multidisciplinary forum of discussion on the recent advances in controlling exoskeleton robots presenting the diversity of the current approaches.
We welcome authors to contribute with high-quality articles containing original research findings, as well as systematic, narrative or scoping reviews presenting relevant analysis and discussion on the current state of the art.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Developments of controllers for upper limb/lower limb assistive/rehabilitation robots
• Biomechanical investigations of exoskeleton robots and other assistive/rehabilitation robots
• Novel sensors for assistive/rehabilitation robots to generate human-like motions
• Processing of EMG/EEG signals
• EMG/EEG signals-based assistive/rehabilitation robot control
• Mathematical and physical algorithms for control of assistive/rehabilitation robots
• Assessment and benchmarking of assistive/rehabilitation robots' functionality
• Clinical studies of assistive robot control
