Assistive Robotics

Soft Robots Bend in Predictable Ways

Soft robots made out of flexible, biocompatible materials are in high demand in industries including healthcare, but precisely designing and controlling such robots for specific purposes is a perennial...

Robotics

What wearable robotic device became the first FDA-cleared exoskeleton approved for rehabilitation use in stroke patients?

Geometric Twist Boosts Power of Robotic Textiles

By rethinking how thin metal threads are woven into a flexible textile, researchers have created a lightweight fabric capable of lifting over 400 times its own weight. The work advances the...

Soft Robotics: AI Powered Muscles Paired with Intelligent Control Systems

Pop culture has often depicted robots as cold, metallic, and menacing, built for domination, not compassion. But at Georgia Tech, the future of robotics is softer, smarter, and designed to help. Read on to learn more.

Training the Future of AI-Powered Surgery

The convergence of AI, extended reality (XR), and immersive simulation is shaping the future of surgical systems.

Making Human-Centered Robotics Work in the Real World

Learn how human-centered robotic systems are deployed at scale, with lessons from cobots in industrial environments.

The Hidden Nervous System of Surgical Robotics: Power, Data & Sensing Behind Precision Performance

Advances in interconnect density, force sensing, and system integration are shaping the future of surgical and assistive robotics.

Surgical & Assistive Robotics: Redefining Human Capability

Devices paired with adaptive machine learning are helping stroke and spinal cord injury patients regain movement.

Medical & Healthcare Robotics Summit

The Medical & Healthcare Robotics Summit, presented by Medical Design Briefs returns for its second year to explore the continued integration of robotics in healthcare and medicine.

The Evolving Role of Robotics in Healthcare

Listen to these podcasts to learn how the role of robotics in healthcare has evolved and will continue to evolve.

Robotics in Rehabilitation: Enhancing Recovery and Patient Independence

Robotics in rehabilitation enhance recovery and enable patient independence.

Socially Assistive AI-Driven Robots for Rehabilitation

Socially assistive robotics are playing an increasingly powerful role in eldercare and patient rehabilitation.

Sensitive Ceramics for Robotics, Prosthetics

Researchers are developing soft sensor materials based on ceramics. Such sensors can feel temperature, strain, pressure, or humidity, for instance, which makes them interesting for use in medicine, but also in the field of soft robotics. Read on to learn more.

A Tabletop Robot May Revolutionize Physical Therapy Delivery

Mohammad Habibur (Habib) Rahman, Director of the BioRobotics Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his team have been developing a portable, assistive robotic arm that therapists can use to assess and treat patients whether or not they are not in the same location.

Biohybrid Robotic Hand Research Platform

Researchers have developed a novel biohybrid neuroprosthetic research platform comprised of a dexterous artificial hand electrically interfaced with biological neural networks. Read on to learn more.

Finger Pouch Actuator Improves Rehab Gloves

Researchers have succeeded in adding finger straightening or extension to soft rehabilitation gloves through a novel foldable pouch actuator (FPA) without compromising the already existing functionality of finger bending or flexion. Read on to learn more about it.

AI-Powered Exoskeleton Helps Restores Mobility

A new method leverages AI and computer simulations to train robotic exoskeletons that can help users save energy while walking, running, and climbing stairs. The novel method rapidly develops exoskeleton controllers to assist locomotion without relying on lengthy human-involved experiments. Read on to learn more.

Robotic Therapy Improves Tremor Treatment

Researchers have developed SPINDLE, a pioneering robotic rehabilitation system. Combining virtual reality (VR) with customized resistance training, SPINDLE offers personalized therapy to enhance strength and dexterity for activities of daily living (ADLs). Read on to learn more about SPINDLE.

Robotics

What robotic device was finally available for therapy in just the last 10 years?

Advances and Innovations in Assistive Robotics

Exploring advances and innovations in assistive robotics.

Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Stroke Patients

New research pushes forward the bounds of stroke recovery with a unique robotic hip exoskeleton, designed as a training tool to improve walking function. This invites the possibility of new therapies...

Microneedle Patch Helps People Control Robotic Exoskeletons

Engineers from Korea and the United States have developed a wearable, stretchy patch that could help to bridge the divide between people and machines — and with benefits for the health of humans around the world.

Technology

In March of 1973, the Six-Million Dollar Man TV series introduced the world to the possibility of a bionic man. What device made bionics a reality 20 years later?

Robotic Rehab Helps Stroke Patients Regain Hand Dexterity

An assistive planar robot includes a cutting-edge closed-loop feedback system to monitor the muscle and brain activity of the user in order to trigger the execution of reach and grab in an adaptive way.

AI Helps Advance Assistive Robotics

Developing assistive robots is a challenging research area, especially when integrating these systems into human environments such as homes and hospitals. To tackle these challenges, the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI2) Lab at Santa Clara University is creating a versatile intelligent robot.

The Contribution of Medical Robotics to Human Wellbeing

In May 2023, a class of tiny, self-propelled robots were designed in the United States that can slip into a human body and may one day deliver prescribed drugs to hard-to-reach parts of the body. The team of developers at the University of Colorado Boulder aims to make the robot fully biodegradable one day, so that it eventually would dissolve in the body.

Parkinson's Disease: A Neuroprosthetic to Correct Walking Disorders

The scientists set out in detail the process of developing the neuroprosthetic that has allowed a first patient with Parkinson's to be treated, enabling him to walk comfortably, confidently and without falling.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including an unprecedented view of gene regulation, a new composite film that improves the safety of personal protective suits, a new kind of strength-building wearable for those with restricted mobility, and more.

Robotics and Prosthetics: Skin-Like Sensors Wrap Around Objects

Researchers have developed an automatic process for making soft sensors. These universal measurement cells can be attached to almost any kind of object. Applications are...