Multifunctional prosthetic-robotics systems. When?

The negative impact that irreversible physical disabilities have on the patient´s quality of life is driving the rehabilitation engineering in the direction to restore a certain degree of autonomy and independence. The solutions and treatment that we can use, depending on the functions of the patient´s specific disability, may range from the application of orthoses and prostheses to, in the worst cases, complex robotics systems. The use of robotics systems also present technical and economics problems, as the development and production costs of robotics systems are very expensive. In this field the mains objectives are the realisation of practical, useful and reliable tools that the disabled persons can use in their daily life. This can only be achieved if engineers, orthopedics, doctors and rehabilitation technicians are working together as an interdisciplinary team