Deadline for submission: 15 March 2024

Special Issue on the International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics 2023 (ICORR 2023)

Scope of Special Issue:

Wearable rehabilitation robots have been designed and proposed as tools to enhance rehabilitation in ecological conditions within clinical settings and to be used in daily living activities. In addition to enabling repeatable, intense, task-specific rehabilitation, wearable rehabilitation robots could gather quantitative information on the patient’s abilities to move that could be used to complement clinical data and describe the progress of the rehabilitation path. However, adoption is still limited to clinical settings while translation to daily living scenarios still faces many challenges.

This Special Issue aims to provide insights into the field of wearable rehabilitation robotics (including robotic prostheses) and to foster collaborative discussion between academic, industrial, and clinical sectors, via contributions from a wide array of experts across multiple disciplines – including robotics, rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, biomechanics, informatics, and more.

This Special Issue is open to extended works that have been accepted for publication in the proceedings of the International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) that will be held in Singapore in September 2023. Submissions must provide significant added contributions relative to the conference papers.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Design of novel wearable systems
• Adaptive control strategies for rehabilitation exoskeletons and prostheses
• Novel experimental methods for rehabilitation through wearable robots
• Clinical trials using rehabilitation robots

Keywords: Rehabilitation robotics: Wearable robots: Continuum of care: Exoskeletons: Exosuits: Robotic prostheses

Guest Editors:

Professor Denny Oetomo - Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne

Denny Oetomo completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons 1) at the Australian National University and PhD (Robotics, Mechanical Engineering) at the National University of Singapore in 2004. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Monash University and INRIA Sophia Antipolis before joining the University of Melbourne in 2008 where he is currently a professor. 

Denny's research interest is in the study of robotic manipulation of task dynamics and its application to the interaction of robots with complex human dynamics. In this topic, he has successfully secured and managed 8 Australian Research Council Discovery and Linkage Projects. He applies his research in the areas of robot-assisted movement rehabilitation, physically assistive robots, and advanced prosthetics. 

His research outcomes have been translated to a successful technology transfer of an upper limb rehabilitation robot (Fourier Intelligence Arm Motus EMU) and several startup companies. He is Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions of Mechatronics (2019 - present), IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2018-2022), ASME Journal of Mechanism and Robotics (2019-2022), IFAC Mechatronics (2016-2021), as well as several conferences. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He was the Finance Chair of ICRA 2018 and serves as General Chair for ICORR 2023. 

 

Professor Robert Riener - ETH Zurich and University of Zurich

Robert Riener studied Mechanical Engineering at TU München, Germany, and University of Maryland, USA. He received a Dr.-Ing. degree in Engineering from the TU München in 1997. After postdoctoral work from 1998-1999 at the Centro di Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, he returned to TU München, where he completed his Habilitation in the field of Biomechatronics in 2003. 

In 2003, he became an assistant professor at ETH Zurich and Spinal Cord Injury Center of the University Hospital Balgrist (“double-professorship”); since 2010 he has been a full professor of Sensory-Motor Systems at ETH Zurich, and since 2016 also full professor at the medical faculty of the University of Zurich. Reiner was guest professor at USC Los Angeles and SSSA Pisa, and he still is at SJTU Shanghai. Reiner has published more than 500 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles, 36 books, and book chapters and filed 26 patents. 

He has received 26 personal distinctions and awards including the Swiss Technology Award in 2006, the IEEE TNSRE Best Paper Award in 2010, and the euRobotics Technology Transfer Awards in 2011, 2012, and 2021. Riener’s research focuses on the investigation of the sensory-motor interactions between humans and machines. This includes the development of user-cooperative robotic devices and virtual reality technologies applied to neurorehabilitation. Riener is the initiator and organizer of the Cybathlon, which was honored with the European Excellence Award, the Yahoo Sports Technology Award, and two REIMAGINE Education Awards. In 2018 Riener obtained an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Basel. In 2022 Riener became president of the ICORR (International Consortium of Rehabilitation Robotics) and since 2023 he is a member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW).

 

Associate Professor Domenico Campolo - Robotics Research Centre, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Domenico Campolo is an Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Robotics Research Centre, at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.  He received his Laurea Degree (1998) in Electronics Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, his Diploma  Degree (1999) in Engineering, and his PhD (2002) in Micro-Engineering from  Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa. From 2000–2003, he was at UC Berkeley (USA). From 2003–2009, he worked at Campus Bio-Medico University in Rome (Italy). In 2009, he joined NTU as Assistant Professor. 

His research interests hinge on the understanding of the mechanisms behind human and animal skills, also for possible transfer to robotic platforms. To this end, his work has been focusing on the development of Robotic platforms for Neuroscience, especially in relation to the sensorimotor domain and human-robot physical interaction; Mechatronic technologies with application to Neuro-Developmental Engineering; Biomimetic Robotics including the development of biologically inspired actuators and sensors. 

His theoretical investigations of both Robotics and Computational Neuroscience are characterized by a geometric approach. His scholarly work appeared in peer-reviewed international Journals and Conferences. He is a co-inventor in several Technology Disclosures and Patents. He is co-founder of ArtiCares Pte Ltd, an NTU spinoff company focusing on Robotic Technologies for decentralized healthcare, including homes.

Assistant Professor Simona Crea (Associate Editor of Wearable Technologies) - The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna; and the Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Firenze

Simona Crea is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA). Her background is in Biomedical Engineering and her research experience is in the field of wearable robotics for rehabilitation, assistance, and augmentation of human motor functions. Currently, she co-leads the wearable robotics laboratory of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and she is the scientific coordinator and PI for SSSA of different national and international projects. She serves as an Associate Editor for Transactions on Robotics (IEEE), Robotics and Automation Letters (IEEE), and Wearable Technologies (Cambridge University Press). 

In 2023 she joined the board of the International Consortium for Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) as secretary. She is also a shareholder and scientific advisor for IUVO S.r.l., a spin-off company of SSSA that aims to commercialize wearable robots in the healthcare, industry, and personal care sectors.

Zen Koh - President (24 September 2023) and Ambassador of the International Industry Society for Advanced Rehabilitation Technology (IISART), General Chair for RehabWeek 2023, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Swiss-based MotusAcademy Association, Managing Editor of the Journal of Rehabilitation Methods and Technologies (JRMT), and the Co-Founder & Global CEO of Fourier Intelligence.

Zen Koh currently holds the position of Co-Founder & Global CEO at Fourier Intelligence, a role that showcases his exemplary leadership and profound impact on the MedTech and Robotics for Rehabilitation sectors. His tenure at the helm of Fourier has been marked by remarkable achievements, including spearheading successful financing endeavours that have yielded over USD100 million since 2018. Notably, he orchestrated the triumphant Series C and D funding rounds in 2022, securing investments from distinguished entities like Saudi Aramco Prosperity7 Venture and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. 

Zen Koh's reputation transcends geographical borders as he is widely acknowledged as a visionary luminary and a pioneering influencer. His unwavering commitment to driving the boundaries of MedTech and Robotics for Rehabilitation has cemented his standing as an industry trailblazer. His journey has been characterised by his role as a serial technopreneur with an illustrious career spanning over two decades in neurorehabilitation robotics. Embarking on his professional journey as a research fellow at the National University of Singapore in 2003, Zen Koh's trajectory quickly evolved into a series of impactful ventures. His influence has resonated across international borders, with his involvement in successful start-ups and enterprises that operate in Singapore, Switzerland, USA, and China. These ventures focus on delivering groundbreaking medical devices, innovative healthcare solutions, and specialised services to enhance the lives of individuals grappling with disabilities and neurological conditions.

Zen Koh's work has been a transformative force, touching the lives of patients on a global scale. His pioneering contributions were acknowledged by MD+DI in 2012 when he was recognized as one of the '40 under 40,' a prestigious list highlighting the most promising industry leaders in MedTech who are poised to shape the future of healthcare. This accolade was a testament to his remarkable capacity to conceive novel technologies and steer organizations that are primed to revolutionize the healthcare landscape.

Dr. Alejandro Melendez-Calderon - The University of Queensland and Jamieson Trauma Institute, Brisbane, Australia. 

Dr. Melendez-Calderon has a transdisciplinary background in engineering, rehabilitation sciences, and neuromechanics with extensive experience in human augmentation technologies used in rehabilitation medicine (robotics, wearable devices) and computational approaches to understand human neuromuscular control (unimpaired, stroke and SCI population). He has over 19 years of experience gained in academic, clinical, and industrial environments across Switzerland, USA, UK, Europe, and Australia.

Alejandro leads the NeuroEngineering, Rehabilitation, and Medical Robotics group at The University of Queensland and the Jamieson Trauma Institute (Brisbane, Australia). His group uses an integrative approach of engineering and rehabilitation sciences to discover effective ways to maximize functional recovery after neurological injury and co-design rehabilitation technologies.