Rehabilitation robotics is a field of research dedicated to understanding and augmenting rehabilitation through the application of robotic devices. Rehabilitation robotics includes development of robotic therapies.

Overview

Rehabilitation robotics can be considered a specific focus of biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineering

Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...

, and a part of human-robot interaction. In this field, clinicians, therapists, and engineers collaborate to help rehabilitate patients.

Prominent goals in the field include: developing implementable technologies that can be easily used by patients, therapists, and clinicians; enhancing the efficacy of clinician's therapies; and increasing the ease of activities in the daily lives of patients.

History

The International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics occurs every two years, with the first conference in 1989. The most recent conference was held in Kyoto, Japan in 2009; an upcoming conference is scheduled for 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

Current Areas of Research

Current robotic devices include exoskeletons for aiding limb or hand movement such as the Tibion Bionic Leg, the Myomo Neuro-robotic System and the Berkeley Bionics eLegs; enhanced treadmills such as the Lokomat; and robotic arms to retrain motor movement of the limb such as the MIT-MANUS. Some devices are meant to aid strength development of specific motor movements, while others seek to aid these movements directly. Often robotic technologies attempt to leverage the principles of neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is a non-specific neuroscience term referring to the ability of the brain and nervous system in all species to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment. Plasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes involved in...

 by improving quality of movement, and increasing the intensity and repetition of the task.

Rehabilitation robotics may also include virtual reality

Virtual reality

Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...

 technology.

See also

• Rehabilitation engineering
  Rehabilitation engineering
  Rehabilitation engineering is the systematic application of engineering sciences to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities...
  
  
• Robotics
  Robotics
  Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
  
  
• Prosthetics

Current Groups studying rehabilitation robotics

This list is not meant to be exclusionary, but meant to direct interested readers to institutions working with rehabilitation robotics:

• Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
  Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
  The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago , ranked the "#1 Rehabilitation in America" by U.S. News & World Report every year since 1991 is a rehabilitation hospital located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It also operates a network of alliance hospitals and outpatient and day rehabilitation...
  
   http://www.ric.org/research/centers/mars2/mars2.aspx
• The Catholic University of America
  The Catholic University of America
  The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
  
   http://cabrr.cua.edu/research/RehabilitationRobotics.cfm
• The University of Delaware with the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
  Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
  Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children is a pediatric hospital located in Wilmington, Delaware. It is controlled by the Nemours Foundation, a non-profit organization created by philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont in 1936 and dedicated to improving the health of children. It is also referred to as the...
  
  http://www.asel.udel.edu/robotics/rerc_rr.html

This extensive list of labs in the United Kingdom: http://rehabilitationrobotics.net/cms/?q=node/2

Additional External links

• International Conference for Rehabilitation Robotics http://www.rehabrobotics.org/
• Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation: http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/
• IEEE: Robotics and Animation Society special issue on rehabilitation robotics: http://www.ieee-ras.org/issue/show/id/1
• IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Rehabilitation & Assistive Robotics.: http://tab.ieee-ras.org/committeeinfo.php?tcid=18
• Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society: http://resna.org/
• Inmotion Robots for Rehabilitation: http://interactive-motion.com/