Human-robot interaction for assisting human locomotion

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of robotics has extended from the industrial field to living and working places. Previous approaches to guide mobile robots often involved the human as an obstacle, which had to be avoided in any case. In contrast, this chapter will adapt concepts of human-robot interaction to propose new strategies, in which a robot must behave in a assistive way, not avoiding the human, and promoting human locomotion. This could be applied in the design of new devices for functional compensation and rehabilitation of the gait.