Masaki Katoh
Papers
8
Total Citations
114
H-Index
6
About
Masaki Katoh is a Japanese rehabilitation scientist and clinician whose research sits at the intersection of assistive robotics, orthotics, and neurological rehabilitation. Based at institutions including Chubu Rosai Hospital in Aichi, Japan, Katoh has made significant contributions to the development and clinical evaluation of wearable robotic exoskeletons and gait-assist technologies for patients with spinal cord injury and stroke-related hemiplegia. A central thread of Katoh's work involves the Wearable Power-Assist Locomotor (WPAL), a medial-type powered exoskeleton designed to reconstruct independent gait in paraplegic patients. His research has systematically compared WPAL against conventional knee-ankle-foot orthoses, demonstrating superior energy efficiency and functional outcomes for users with paraplegia — work that has accumulated over 60 citations across multiple studies spanning 2009 to 2022. Katoh has also investigated the Gait Exercise Assist Robot (GEAR) for stroke rehabilitation, contributing early clinical evidence that robotic gait training can reduce compensatory movement patterns and improve walking outcomes in hemiplegic patients. What distinguishes Katoh's scholarship is its rigorous clinical grounding — his studies address real-world feasibility, including challenging cases such as combined cervical and thoracic spinal cord injuries. His body of work has meaningfully advanced the evidence base for robotic rehabilitation technologies in Japan and internationally.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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