What Is Rehabilitation Robotics?

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Introduction
Robotic technology is one form of technology that is rapidly evolving, slowly changing our lifestyle. One of which is the rehabilitation applications of robotic technology use for physical therapy. The number of people suffering from a physical disability is the highest among the 15% of the world population suffering from some form of disability. This large number had piqued engineers to perform research in order to combine robotics with the rehabilitation field; known as Rehabilitation Robotics. Rehabilitation robotics had successfully entered into our society today to help disabled people in their daily life. However, in order to readily implement this field of technology in the future, one has to turn to the evolutionary process …show more content…

It first started off with the development of artificial leg, commonly known as “prosthesis”. It was designed in the1800s for Lord Uxbridge who had lost his leg in the battle of Waterloo. The form of the artificial leg was then modified by America. New prosthesis facilities were implemented after America’s Civil War to cater to a large number of causalities with their limb being amputated. This war had resulted in more functional prosthesis being developed under the field of Rehabilitation Engineering that is later evolved to Rehabilitation Robotics …show more content…

Assistive technology has become more prominent in enhancing the functional performance of the people with disabilities so that they are able to engage in their daily life independently. A wide range of devices are invented through assistive technology; not only to help people with upper or lower limb disability but also to people with another form of disabilities in terms of vision, hearing, remembering and learning. Some of the assistive devices developed through rehabilitation engineering include special type of wheelchairs and prosthetic device to help physical disabled people, medical dispensers with alarm to remind elderly to take medicine on time and a special type of cutlery known as “Nelson’s knife” that is used from the past until now for rehabilitation purpose; to train patients with only one arm to handle foods. Assistive technology is an advancement of Rehabilitation robotics technology that not only focuses on rehabilitation but also the needs of different individual suffering from a different form of disability to better improve their quality of

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