Lower Limb Rehabilitation Robots

Dear Colleagues,

The scientific and medical community is becoming more and more interested in Rehabilitation Robotics. This special issue is structured around the most important scientific aspects of  man-machine interaction. It is, particularly, focused on the lower limb rehabilitation. The topic, starting with passive devices that sustained the patient and forced him to perform gait exercises, is now strongly intertwined with biped robotics, and biometric signal processing.

In this field, the interaction with humans increased from a pure exchange of information (in teleoperation tasks) and service robotics to the involvement of physical and cognitive modalities.  This interaction has a twofold scenario, namely, first, a cognitive interaction by means of which the human is able to control the robot while the robot transmits feedback to the human; secondly, a biomechanical interaction leading to the application of controlled forces between both actors. Compliance, reinforcement of balance and multi-joints voluntary control of the exoskeleton by the patient are the frontier of this technology.

In this Special Issue we plan to include studies dealing with the cognitive aspects of this interaction. Interaction based on bioelectrical and biomechanical activity as well as novel approaches based on interfacing both the Peripheral and Central Nervous Systems (PNS, CNS) with the robot are welcome. Physical aspects of this interaction should also be addressed, in this regard; signal processing and artificial intelligence are expected to play an important role in interpreting the available data, for training, and for the real time control. Links between exoskeletons and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) are also considered.

Theoretical contributions and experiences in the aforementioned fields are invited.

This special issue is addressed to experts and practitioners on control, robotics, signal processing, bioengineering, neuroscience, physiatry, and rehabilitation.

Dr. Eduardo Rocon
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Menga
Dr. Alexandros Alexopoulos
Guest Editors

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