Recent Advances towards Frontier Research in Wearable Robotics

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, wearable robotics have undergone significant and rapid evolution, becoming a source of many cutting-edge technologies in diverse research fields and for various frontier engineered applications.

While initially conceived to augment human movement, wearable robotics have been progressively targeted towards rehabilitation and assistive robotics domains. Advances in the design and control of robotic exoskeletons and prostheses welcome new possibilities that can more effectively help the disabled, such as patients suffering from motor and sensory function loss due to a neurological disorder (e.g., stroke) or amputees disabled due to a traumatic injury. Another highly growing application area for wearable robots is occupational exoskeletons, which are emerging as technological tools with promising implications for assisting industrial workers as a preventive measure against the occurrence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Controlling a powered exoskeleton or a robotic prosthesis is a fundamental challenge when it comes to creating wearable robots that perform synchronously and effectively with the wearer. Designing control strategies or algorithms for effective use of wearable robots involves deep knowledge of human movements (i.e., kinematics and dynamics along with human ergonomics), and the translation into responsive, precise, and accurate control systems typically exploits the sensory information gathered by integrated wearable sensors.

Regardless of the application domain, wearable robots are typically tested and evaluated through in-lab and out-of-the-lab scenarios. In-lab testing can take advantage of many sensors and instrumented environments (e.g., those equipped with motion-tracking systems) to measure human performance and exoskeleton effectiveness. However, this is usually inapplicable to in-field studies, where the measuring instrumentation must be as simple and unobtrusive as possible to preserve an ecological operational testing condition. In the latter case, advances in sensing technologies and measuring instrumentations can foster ecological assessment of wearable robots, facilitating their evaluation. This brings us one step closer to using them in real-world applications.

To help advance wearable robotics’ horizon research, this Special Issue aims to collect original contributions from prospective authors committed to conducting research on robotics, mechatronics, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, and other relevant fields. Reviews are also welcome.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Human-centered design;
• Human–robot interaction;
• Robotic wearable devices for physical rehabilitation and assistance;
• Robotic wearable devices for workers physical augmentation;
• Control strategies for exoskeletons and prostheses;
• Novel wearable sensors for exoskeletons and prostheses;
• Integration of sensors with wearable robotic platforms;
• Wearable sensors exploitation in rehabilitation and assistive scenarios;
• Environment sensing for exoskeletons/prostheses assessment;
• In-lab and out-of-the-lab evaluation studies.

Dr. Lorenzo Grazi
Dr. Rahim Mutlu
Dr. Arturo Forner-Cordero
Guest Editors

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