The human history has been accompanied by accidental trauma, war, and congenital anomalies. Consequently, amputation and deformity have been dealt with, one way or another, throughout the ages. More than one million individuals in the United States today are living with limb amputations (Adams et al., 1999), in which there are approximately 100,000 patients with an upper limb amputation. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have added to this number. According to the survey results of the Second China National Sample Survey on Disables (SCNSSD 2006) led by the National Statistics Bureau in 2006, approximately 8% of physical disables, or 2.26 million people, live with limb amputations in China alone. Natural disasters and accidents have been making this number increase. The massive earthquakes that occurred in May 2008, Sichuan Province, China, recently increased about 20 thousand of new limb amputees. Expectations for control of upper limb prostheses have always been high because of the standard establi-shed by able-bodied dexterity.

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The human being is the only living organism which steadily uses “tools”. We have used tools to cultivate our land, grow our food, build up cities and communication infrastructures –tools are the basis for phenomena as culture and globalization. Some even argue that tools (and especially the wealth they are able to create for a huge amount of people) are the basis for today’s global spread of freedom and democracy. Especially tools which enhance our power in the field of mobility have played an important role in human history. The bicycle, an archetype of the assistance in physical ability and mobility, is based on the combination of human power and an artificial, technical system and was introduced by C. Drais in 1817. Later on, the car pressed ahead with this approach and supplemented human force by motor technology, a kind of actuator. Ergonomics and the research on efficient man-machine cooperation developed during First and Second World War in order to maximize the efficiency of man controlled artifacts as motor cycles, cars, airplanes, ships and other war equipment. After the Second World War, systematic science in improving man-machine systems led to airplanes and cars which more and more reduced the physical and cognitive workload of the human users. Today’s cars take over driving ma-neuvers in critical situations and electric cars equipped with sensor-actuator systems provide a multitude of possibilities to assist the driver and driving efficiency. Within the scope of research on the next generation fighter jet control an autopilot is used which is able to set its degree of autonomy in real-time based on the measured cognitive workload of the pilot. An even closer relation between man and machine is represented by so called mobile suits envisaged by Japanese technology visionaries (e.g. in Japanese Mangas) since the 60 ’s. In 1963, the Rancho Arm was developed by Rancho Los Amigos Hospital (California) as an artificial limb for handicapped and later on integrated with computer technology by Stanford University. Experiments with whole mobile suits and power assistance devices were conducted by Japanese robotic scientists since the 70 ’s. Today’s version of HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) is controlled by bio-electric signals thus blurring the borders between man and machine. Further, modern power suits allow a stepwise regulation of the suits’ assistive power according to user’s individual needs. Finally, Toyota calls its next generation of downsized, personal, and electrical mobility devices like iReal and iSwing explicitly “Mobility Robots” and closely cooperates with top robotic researches to make them as intuitively operated as possible.

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Strokes affect over 750,000 people annually in the United States. This significant and disabling condition can result in paralysis that must be treated by regular sessions with a dedicated physical therapist in order to regain motor function. However, the use of therapists is expensive, in high demand, and requires patient travel to a rehabilitation clinic. We propose an inexpen-sive and wearable upper body orthotics system that can be used at home to provide the same level of rehabi-litation as the current physical therapy standard of care. The system is composed of a soft orthotic device with an integrated cable actuation system that is worn over the upper body, a limb position sensing system, and an actuator package. This paper presents initial design considerations and the evaluation of a proof of concept system for shoulder joint rehabilitation. Through simulations and experimental evalua-tion, the system is shown to be adjustable, easily wearable, and adaptable to misalignment and anatomical variations. Insights provided by these initial studies will inform the development of a complete upper body orthotic system.

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This paper presents an application of noninvasive sEMG-based interface to humanoid robot navigation control between remote places via wireless internet communication. sEMG signals to recognize three wrist movements are measured from the skin of a user’s arm. The wrist movements generate commands to the humanoid robot. The wrist movement directions are assigned to be intuitively com-parable with the robot movement directions, therefore a user can control the robot in a natural way. By combining the state automation machine to the sEMG-based interface, possible robot movements are extended. To provide the environmental information of remote places, the images from the camera on the robot’s head are transmitted into the interface PC screen. We conducted experiments in which subjects control a huma-noid robot to navigate from a starting position to a destination in a maze. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed interface method by comparing it with the keyboard control.

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Background: Novel stroke rehabilitation techniques that employ electrical stimulation (ES) and robotic technologies are effective in reducing upper limb impairments. ES is most effective when it is applied to support the patients’ voluntary effort; however, current systems fail to fully exploit this connection. This study builds on previous work using advanced ES controllers, and aims to investigate the feasibility of Stimulation Assistance through Iterative Learning (SAIL), a novel upper limb stroke rehabilitation system which utilises robotic support, ES, and voluntary effort. Methods: Five hemiparetic, chronic stroke participants with impaired upper limb function attended 18, 1 hour intervention sessions. Participants completed virtual reality tracking tasks whereby they moved their impaired arm to follow a slowly moving sphere along a specified trajectory. To do this, the participants’ arm was supported by a robot. ES, mediated by advanced iterative learning control (ILC) algorithms, was applied to the triceps and anterior deltoid muscles. Each movement was repeated 6 times and ILC adjusted the amount of stimulation applied on each trial to improve accuracy and maximise voluntary effort. Participants completed clinical assessments (Fugl-Meyer, Action Research Arm Test) at baseline and post-intervention, as well as unassisted tracking tasks at the beginning and end of each intervention session. Data were analysed using t-tests and linear regression. Results: From baseline to post-intervention, Fugl-Meyer scores improved, assisted and unassisted tracking performance improved, and the amount of ES required to assist tracking reduced. Conclusions: The concept of minimising support from ES using ILC algorithms was demonstrated. The positive results are promising with respect to reducing upper limb impairments following stroke, however, a larger study is required to confirm this.

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