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- therapeutics
- assistive technology
- robot
rehabilitation robot
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What is a rehabilitation robot?
A rehabilitation robot is an automatically operated machine designed to improve movement in people with impaired physical functioning.
There are two main types:
* Assistive robots substitute for lost limb movements. The Manus ARM is one example.
* Therapy robots, or rehabilitators, help patients practice movements. For example, MIT-Manus assists stroke patients, and the Lokomat retrains walking after spinal cord injury or stroke.Functionality limitations and high costs have restricted the availability of rehabilitation robots. Current advances focus on incorporating more intelligence into robots and implanting computer chips into the brain to simply "think" a command. Researchers are also working on robotic exoskeletons, which are lightweight wearable devices that assist in limb movement.
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Who uses rehabilitation robots and why?
Rehabilitation robots are used by individuals with impaired physical functioning to improve movement. There are two main types: assistive robots, like the Manus ARM and powered wheelchairs, which substitute for lost limb movements, and therapy robots, such as MIT-Manus and Lokomat, which help patients practice movements.
Therapy robots aid rehabilitation therapists, allowing patients to perform practice movements. For example, the Lokomat retrains walking after spinal cord injury or stroke. Though functionality limitations and high costs have restricted their availability, advances in neuroscience and robotics are helping to improve the technology.
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How do rehabilitation robots help people recover from injuries?
Rehabilitation robots aid recovery from injuries by improving movement in those with physical impairments. Assistive robots replace lost limb movements, like the Manus ARM, a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm controlled by the user. Therapy robots, or rehabilitators, help patients practice movements. For example, MIT-Manus aids stroke patients in reaching, while the Lokomat retrains walking after spinal cord injury or stroke. Though functionality limits and high costs exist, advances in neuroscience, like implanting computer chips into the brain, could significantly advance rehabilitation robots. Researchers are also developing robotic exoskeletons, wearable devices that assist in limb movement.
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What kinds of movements or exercises can rehabilitation robots assist with?
Rehabilitation robots come in two main types: assistive and therapy robots. Assistive robots like the Manus ARM and powered wheelchairs aid lost limb movements through telemanipulation. Therapy robots, such as MIT-Manus and Lokomat, help patients practice movements. MIT-Manus aids stroke patients in reaching tasks, while Lokomat supports body weight and moves legs for gait retraining after spinal cord injury or stroke.
Therapy robots can assist, resist, or even uncoordinate movements to stimulate nervous system adaptation. Robotic exoskeletons, wearable devices, aid limb movement. These robots may also support neural regeneration following stem cell and other medical treatments.
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How is a rehabilitation robot different from other medical robots?
Rehabilitation robots are distinct from other medical robots due to their focus on improving movement in individuals with physical impairments. Unlike surgical robots used in procedures such as prostate cancer or hysterectomies, rehabilitation robots assist or retrain movement through two main types: assistive robots, which substitute lost limb movements, and therapy robots, which aid patients in performing practice movements. While other medical robots perform surgeries, rehabilitation robots help restore physical function, capitalizing on the nervous system's adaptability through practiced movements.
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rehabilitation robot, any automatically operated machine that is designed to improve movement in persons with impaired physical functioning.
There are two main types of rehabilitation robots. The first type is an assistive robot that substitutes for lost limb movements. An example is the Manus ARM (assistive robotic manipulator), which is a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm that is controlled using a chin switch or other input device. That process is called telemanipulation and is similar to an astronaut’s controlling a spacecraft’s robot arm from inside the spacecraft’s cockpit. Powered wheelchairs are another example of teleoperated, assistive robots.
The second type of rehabilitation robot is a therapy robot, which is sometimes called a rehabilitator. Research in neuroscience has shown that the brain and spinal cord retain a remarkable ability to adapt, even after injury, through the use of practiced movements. Therapy robots are machines or tools for rehabilitation therapists that allow patients to perform practice movements aided by the robot. The first robot used in that way, MIT-Manus, helped stroke patients to reach across a tabletop if they were unable to perform the task by themselves. Patients who received extra therapy from the robot improved the rate of their arm movement recovery. Another therapy robot, the Lokomat, supports the weight of a person and moves the legs in a walking pattern over a moving treadmill, with the goal of retraining the person to walk after spinal cord injury or stroke.
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Limitations in functionality and high costs have restricted the availability of rehabilitation robots. Furthermore, teleoperating a robot arm to pick up a bottle of water and bring it to the mouth is time-consuming and requires an expensive robot. To overcome that problem, engineers have worked to build more intelligence into robot arms on wheelchairs. Making robots understand voice commands, recognize objects, and agilely manipulate objects is an important area of advance in robotics generally. Progress in neuroscience stands to significantly advance the development of rehabilitation robots by enabling the implantation of computer chips directly into the brain so that all a user has to do is “think” a command and the robot will do it. Researchers have shown that monkeys can be trained to move a robotic arm in just that fashion—through thought alone.
The major limiting factor in the development of rehabilitation robots is that researchers do not know what exactly needs to happen in order for the nervous system to adapt to overcome a physical impairment. Hard work by the patient is important, but what should the robot do? Researchers are developing rehabilitation robots that assist in movement, resist movement when it is uncoordinated, or even make movements more uncoordinated in an attempt to trick the nervous system into adapting. Advances have been made in the development of robotic exoskeletons, which are lightweight wearable devices that assist in limb movement. Other types of rehabilitation robots could play a role in assisting the nervous system to regenerate appropriate neural connections following stem cell and other medical treatments.