The Present and Future of Robotic Technology in Rehabilitation

Abstract

Robotic technology designed to assist rehabilitation can potentially increase the efficiency of and accessibility to therapy by assisting therapists to provide consistent training for extended periods of time, and collecting data to assess progress. Automatization of therapy may enable many patients to be treated simultaneously and possibly even remotely, in the comfort of their own homes, through telerehabilitation. The data collected can be used to objectively assess performance and document compliance as well as progress. All of these characteristics can make therapists more efficient in treating larger numbers of patients. Most importantly for the patient, it can increase access to therapy which is often in high demand and rationed severely in today’s fiscal climate. In recent years, many consumer grade low-cost and off-the-shelf devices have been adopted for use in therapy sessions and methods for increasing motivation and engagement have been integrated with them. This review paper outlines the effort devoted to the development and integration of robotic technology for rehabilitation.

Social Information as a Means to Enhance Engagement in Citizen Science‐Based Telerehabilitation

“…Advancements in computer-mediated rehabilitation are opening the door to telerehabilitation (Popescu, Burdea, Bouzit, & Hentz, 2000;Weightman et al, 2011). Telerehabilitation enables patients to exercise without a visit to therapists, while receiving close monitoring and effective interventions from professionals through remote sensing (Carignan & Krebs, 2006;Laut et al, 2016). However, lack of social interactions may dwindle motivations to exercise at home.…”

“…The effort of both therapists and patients can be reduced through computer-mediated physical exercise. Today, computer-mediated physical exercise offers a more continuous, intensive, and objective monitoring of a patient's progress than before (Laut, Porfiri, & Raghavan, 2016). Robotic devices afford detailed measurements of movement parameters, such as motion range, speed, and accuracy (Timmermans, Seelen, Willmann, & Kingma, 2009).…”

“…For example, commercial entertainment games are reported to improve motor function in stroke patients (Saposnik et al, 2010). However, commercial games are often fast-paced and may not be suitable for most stroke patients due to their sensorimotor difficulties (Laut et al, 2016). To overcome the problem, some studies have explored the potential of game-like interfaces that are purposefully designed for functional rather than entertainment tasks (Burke et al, 2009;Prange et al, 2015;Sucar et al, 2014).…”

A 3D printing approach toward targeted intervention in telerehabilitation

“…Second, being able to perform therapeutic exercise comfortably at home, patients can accommodate their personal schedule such that long waiting times for treatment are prevented 7 . Third, telerehabilitation allows therapists to provide services for multiple patients simultaneously, and supplement the exercise with frequent feedback 10,11 . While all of these reasons favor telerehabilitation over traditional in-clinic therapy, telerehabilitation remains impracticable due to high costs 10,12 .Reducing the costs of telerehabilitation is possible by adopting commercial devices 12,13 .…”

“…Between "Status Tests" that quantify movement, the patient had the option of voluntarily playing the classical "Breakout" game, which provided a recreational context to the therapy. These games could be further enriched through the incorporation of serious components and citizen science elements 10,22 . Such interventions may also cater to older patients, who constitute the majority of patients with neurological disability 19,23,24 .Addressing physical limitations of commercial controllers is more problematic.…”