Editorial: Next Generation User-Adaptive Wearable Robots

Abstract

Wearable robots, including powered exoskeletons and robotic prostheses, have created new possibilities for mobility augmentation and restoration among individuals with a variety of movement disorders, including spinal cord injury, stroke, amputation, and other neurological conditions Exoskeleton technology has progressed to create utility for unimpaired individuals by supporting load carriage, reducing joint loading or improving metabolic efficiency Despite this progress, exoskeleton deployment in real-world, community environments remains limited. While there are multiple barriers to ubiquitous exoskeleton use, a key lynchpin is development of robust control systems that adapt to user intent, support the variety of mobility tasks that may be encountered, and account for variation in the user's voluntary effort across such tasks.