Shigeo Tanabe
Papers
24
Total Citations
384
H-Index
11
About
Shigeo Tanabe is a leading rehabilitation robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of assistive technology, neurological rehabilitation, and mobility restoration. His research has focused primarily on developing and evaluating wearable robotic exoskeletons and gait-assist devices for individuals with paraplegia, spinal cord injury, and hemiplegia following stroke. Tanabe's most influential contribution is his pioneering work on the Wearable Power-Assist Locomotor (WPAL), a motorized orthosis designed to restore upright walking independence in paraplegic patients. First reported in 2009 and extensively validated through subsequent comparative studies, WPAL has demonstrated superior energy efficiency over conventional knee-ankle-foot orthoses, accumulating over 60 citations in its most-cited form. His 2021 literature review on wearable robotic exoskeletons for spinal cord injury patients (52 citations) has become an important evidence-based clinical reference for rehabilitation practitioners worldwide. Beyond spinal cord injury, Tanabe has made significant contributions to stroke rehabilitation, particularly through clinical evaluation of the Gait Exercise Assist Robot (GEAR) and the Welwalk system for hemiparetic patients. His broader vision extends to designing robotic smart home environments for elderly and disabled individuals. Collectively, his body of work, spanning over a decade of clinical and technological research, has meaningfully shaped evidence-based practice in rehabilitation robotics.
Research Focus
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