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The Present and Future of Robotic Technology in Rehabilitation

  • Rehabilitation Technology (BE Dicianno, Section Editor)
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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.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. CBET-1604355 and NIH R01HD071978.

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  1. New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Jeffrey Laut & Maurizio Porfiri

  2. New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Preeti Raghavan

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  1. Jeffrey Laut
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Correspondence to Preeti Raghavan.

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Laut, J., Porfiri, M. & Raghavan, P. The Present and Future of Robotic Technology in Rehabilitation. Curr Phys Med Rehabil Rep 4, 312–319 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-016-0139-0

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