Stroke and spinal cord injury patients often require gait rehabilitation to regain the ability to walk or to help strengthen their muscles. Wearable "robot-assisted training" is quickly emerging as a method that helps improve this rehab process.
In a major advance, researchers from Beihang University in China and Aalborg University in Denmark have designed a lower-limb robot exoskeleton - a wearable robot - that features natural knee movement to greatly improve patients' comfort and willingness to wear it for gait rehab.
As the team reports this week in Review of Scientific Instruments, from AIP Publishing, their robotic exoskeleton is intended to help stroke patients strengthen their physical fitness, aid the rehabilitation training of paralyzed patients, or to assist those who need help performing daily activities.
