Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation Therapy: Recovery Mechanisms and Their Implications for Machine Design

Robot-assisted rehabilitation therapy interventions are emerging as a new technique to help individuals with motor impairment recover lost motor control. While initial clinical studies indicate the devices can reduce impairment, the mechanisms of recovery behind their effectiveness are not well understood. Thus, there is still uncertainty on how best to design robotic therapy devices. Ideally at the onset of designing a robotic therapy device, the designer would fully understand the physiological mechanisms of recovery, then shape the machine design to target those mechanisms. This chapter reviews key potential mechanisms by which robotic therapy devices may promote motor recovery. We discuss the evidence for each mechanism, how initial devices have targeted these mechanisms, and the implications of this evidence for optimal design of robotic therapy machines.