Advances in Robotic Rehabilitation for Lower Limb Recovery and Walking Assistance

Introduction: Rehabilitation engineering for human gait is a rapidly growing field that automates therapeutic interventions, reducing the physical effort required from therapists. This allows therapists to focus on applying clinical protocols for physical training and motor re-learning. The assisted robotic rehabilitation systems also enable the assessment of motor recovery by measuring key parameters such as force patterns, interaction dynamics, and angular movements. Objective: The objective of this study is to provide a descriptive review of robotic platforms designed for the rehabilitation and assistance of human gait. Methods: Given the rapid advancements in exoskeleton technology, particular emphasis was placed on incorporating the most recent studies. However, due to the topic's complexity, a broader research timeframe, spanning the last 14 years, was also considered. The review followed a comprehensive search strategy across multiple databases, including Springer Nature, Google Scholar, IEEE/ASME, Sage, Scopus, Taylor & Francis, MDPI, Frontiers, Elsevier, ResearchGate, ScienceDirect, and John Wiley & Sons, aiming to identify all relevant technologies related to lower limb exoskeletons. Results: Rehabilitation and assistance robotics is a multidisciplinary field, covering areas such as biomechanics, human-machine interaction, control strategies, actuator design, and sensor integration. This study contributes a classification table that summarizes the most representative rehabilitation robotic platforms, highlighting their features and differences using comparative variables. Conclusion: The descriptive analysis shows that overground gait trainers are the most advanced and widely used systems in rehabilitation robotics, emphasizing their effectiveness in meeting the complex needs of gait rehabilitation, making them a critical focus for future research.