Actuation, Biomechanics, and Control Strategies of Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Exoskeletons

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce this Special Issue of Actuators, titled "Actuation, Biomechanics, and Control Strategies of Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Exoskeletons".

This Special Issue will focus on the engineering and neurological aspects of active (powered) prosthetics and orthotics control, with a particular emphasis on how performance metrics align—or even conflict—with user satisfaction, acceptance, and experience. This Special Issue aims to bridge the gap between quantitative performance measures of active prosthetic, orthotic, and exoskeleton devices and the qualitative (and often subjective) satisfaction reported by users. As the field progresses, it is increasingly important to not only consider how well these actuated devices perform in clinical or lab settings and how well they follow the desired trajectories, but also how users perceive and experience them in real-world scenarios.

We invite original research articles, systematic reviews, case studies, and theoretical perspectives on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Biomechanics, actuation, and control strategies;
• Active (actuated) prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeletons;
• Powered assistive devices, rehabilitation engineering, and human–machine interactions;
• Wearable robotics, bio-inspired robotics, and gait analysis;
• Neural interfaces, muscle synergies, kinematics, and dynamics;
• Rehabilitation robotics, human motor control, and sensor technologies;
• Artificial intelligence, wearable sensors, and biomedical engineering;
• Human–machine interactions, haptic feedback, and Electromyography (EMG);
• Assistive technology, lower-limb prosthetics, and upper-limb prosthetics;
• Neuromuscular control and assistive robotics;
• Control mechanisms in powered prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeletons;
• Comparative analyses of device performance metrics vs. user satisfaction;
• Neurofeedback and adaptive control in active prosthetic and orthotic interfaces;
• Advances in sensory feedback integration for enhanced user experience;
• Real-world and longitudinal studies on user satisfaction and device acceptance;
• Neural interfacing techniques for optimized control of prosthetic limbs;
• User-centered design approaches in neuro-orthotic and prosthetic engineering.

We seek contributions from researchers, clinicians, and engineers that push the boundaries of how we evaluate and improve prosthetic, orthotic, and exoskeleton devices in terms of both clinical efficacy and user-centric satisfaction.

Dr. Mahdy Eslamy
Prof. Dr. Mo Rastgaar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.