Exoskeletal Robotics for Functional Substitution

This chapter advocates for considering functional substitution exoskeletal robots (ERs) for rehabilitation during chronic phases of motor disorders. It reviews the technologies that were applied in the past to control the flow of mechanical power and the flow of information between human and robot. The chapter identifies technological bottlenecks in the development of functional substitution ERs. It proposes a way to circumvent this technological limitation might be based on hybrid functional substitution technologies comprising an ER and a motor neuroprosthesis (MNP). In this way, latent motor capabilities of patients can be preserved or even augmented by orchestrating the action of MNPs and ERs in a scheme that seeks to exploit the advantages of each technology. Both ERs and MNPs are technologies that seek to restore or substitute motor function. MNPs constitute an approach to restoring function using artificial control of human muscles or muscle nerves with functional electrical stimulation (FES).

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