Introduction
This chapter introduces background information on healthcare requirements and existing soft healthcare robots, and also identifies the critical issues in developing such robots. The main incentives for the usage of soft robotic devices for healthcare applications can be summarised as: their ability to reduce physical workload of physiotherapists, intrinsic compliance for safe patient-robot interaction, light weight, objective assessment and rehabilitation from built-in sensors, and great potential in making wearable devices. Some typical examples of existing soft robots used in the field of healthcare applications are presented to give readers an intuitive understanding. The key challenges in the design and control of soft healthcare robots are also discussed in the chapter.
Introduction, Page 1 of 2
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