IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2013 - 18

inadequate level of user safety. Moreover, it is also noteworthy that the independence provided by the assistive
device to a person with a disability
could in some cases be undesirable due
to the potential loss of human interaction with family and caregivers and the
prospect of social isolation.
It is therefore clear that assistive
robotics is a research area that is still
in progress and is in major need of
further evolution. Recent advancements in robotics, the availability of
low-cost, high-power computing and
sensing technology, and the growing
synergy between robotics and other
disciplines in medical and technical
areas will make it more and more feasible to have robots assisting people
with disabilities in activities of daily
living and thereby widen community
integration and participation. However, we recognize that there are important challenges in this area for the
future regarding the mass diffusion

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

and proper use of assistive technology,
which are outlined as follows.
1) To develop standardized research
tools and objectively measured outcomes to evaluate robotic systems
from the user's perspective. The main
expected advantage is to enable the
objective evaluation of multiple systems, the choice of user-tailored
devices, and the assessment of each
specific intervention.
2) To conduct more user trials in natural environments to assess device
efficacy, safety, reliability, and
acceptability.
3) To improve the link and synergy
with clinicians to favor the technology transfer from the bench to
the clinical setting. The clinical
impact of this field include enabling
users to enter the workforce, reducing the burden on their caregivers,
and enabling them live at home,
thus reducing their stay in care
facilities.

MARCH 2013

4) To promote communication with the
industrial community, thus sharing
the most advanced developments
toward new products and integrated
solutions to appear on the market in
the near future.
This special issue aims to provide an
overview (obviously not complete) of
the most recent advancements of the
field by presenting cutting-edge, representative examples to illustrate where
the field is going and discussing new
strategic avenues for assistive robotics
that can capitalize on the structural
links between brain science, technology
areas, and clinical practice. To do this,
we gathered six peer-reviewed articles
representing examples of recent
advancements and challenges in three
of the five categories of assistive robotics listed above: PARs, user interface
and control systems, and SARs.
The issue opens with two articles on
PARs for manipulation purposes. The
first article, "Lending a Helping Hand"
by Groothuis et al., provides an overview
of manipulation robotic aids. In this article, the authors propose five criteria for
classifying assistive robotic arms based
on robotic arm usage scenarios and surveys. The application of such criteria to
current assistive robotic arms is presented, thus discussing and qualitatively
rating systems. The advantage of using
variable stiffness actuation for assistive
robotic systems is also discussed.
The second article, "Robots for
Humanity" by Chen et al., presents a
case study of a personal robot based on
the PR2. The article describes the
research activities of a collaborative
project with the ultimate objective of
putting assistive mobile manipulators in
real homes with people with disabilities.
The approach pursued by the authors
consists of developing a suite of opensource software tools to combine the
capabilities of the user and the robot.
In the articles "Controlling HandAssistive Devices" by Hao et al., and
"Adaptive Artificial Limbs" by Pilarski
et al., the topic of user interface and
control systems for manipulation of
robotic aids is developed in two different scenarios. The article by Hao et al.
proposes using electrooculography for

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2013