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About

Hiroki Tanikawa is a rehabilitation robotics researcher whose work centers on advancing stroke recovery through intelligent assistive technologies, with a particular focus on gait rehabilitation for patients with hemiplegia. He is best known for his contributions to the development and clinical evaluation of the Gait Exercise Assist Robot (GEAR), a sophisticated robotic system designed to support walking training in stroke patients by precisely assisting paretic limb swing and stabilizing stance, enabling meaningful practice from the earliest stages of recovery without inducing excessive compensatory movements. Tanikawa's research has systematically built the evidence base for GEAR across multiple dimensions. His 2017 work detailing GEAR's precise assist control and enriched feedback mechanisms (36 citations) established the technical and clinical foundations of the system. Subsequent studies investigated how GEAR influences gait patterns in stroke patients and, critically, whether its benefits persist beyond the training period — demonstrating lasting improvements in walking speed and lower limb function through three-dimensional gait analysis. His work also examines GEAR through the lens of motor learning theory, emphasizing the importance of feedback optimization and parameter adjustment in clinical practice. Spanning both engineering and clinical rehabilitation science, Tanikawa's research offers meaningful guidance for integrating robotic tools into real-world stroke recovery.