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Being a multidisciplinary area involving subjects such as mechanics, electronics and computing, the
evolution and spread of robotics to different application sectors still requires intense interaction with
other fields of science and technology. This applies equally when dealing with wearable robots,
meaning robotic systems that a person wears to enhance his/her capabilities in some way. Since the
first wearable robots, conceived in the early 1990s as amplifiers of human force or reach, progress
in all robotics-related areas has been moving in the direction of a symbiosis between humans and
robots as a means of enhancing human abilities in the fields of perception, manipulation, walking
and so on.
Although the number of books available on robotics is huge, the existing literature in specific
fields of robotic application is not so extensive; moreover, it appears that there is no book conceived
as a compendium of all the subject matter involved in such specific emerging areas. The present
book is intended to fill the gap in the field of wearable robots – an emerging sector that constitutes a
step forward in robotic systems, which rely on the fact of having a human in the loop. That progress
in the field is continuously expanding is evident from the number of publications on advances in
research and development, new prototypes and even commercial products. Therefore, a book that
brings together all the different subject matter encompassed by this discipline will assuredly be of
valuable assistance in gaining an appreciation of the wide range of knowledge required; furthermore,
by identifying the main concepts involved in dealing with such robots, it can be of help to new
researchers wishing to enter the field.
As this book shows, in the field of wearable robots human/robot interaction is a key issue, from a
physical or a cognitive point of view, or from both. Therefore, besides a solid knowledge of robotic
techniques, research and development in this area also requires some background in anatomical
behaviour of the human body and in the human neurological and cognitive systems. In this context,
bioinspired or biomimetic design is of special importance for purposes of reproducing human functions
or copying human actions respectively. Wearable robots must be designed to cope with specific
working conditions, such as the need to accommodate a nonfixed structure, i.e. the human body; to
be compliant, light and intrinsically safe enough to be worn by a user; or to be equipped with the
requisite interfaces to enable easy intuitive control by a human. |