Rehabilitation robotics research at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The application of to disability and rehabilitation research is fairly recent. This field of research appears to be growing. The National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE is the largest freely accessible public database of medical literature, with more than 11 million citations from 1960 to the present (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi). The number of publications cited each year in MEDLINE under the medical subject heading robotics was minimal until about 1985; after 1985 the number of citations each year began to increase. Between 1960 and 2004, 148 citations were specific to disability and rehabilitation out of 2,957 total citations in MEDLINE. The research productivity in over time is illustrated in Figure 1. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Robotics research productivity specific to disability and rehabilitation (Figure 1, left y-axis) appears to have paralleled, at a reduced level, the research productivity in all other aspects of medical (Figure 1, right y-axis). The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics meets every 2 years. Their ninth conference was held in Chicago, Illinois, from June 28 to July 1, 2005. Thus, the emergence of this professional meeting roughly coincides with the onset of increased publications as documented by MEDLINE. Publication of rehabilitation research in the IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering has also paralleled the trend seen in MEDLINE. REVIEW OF RESEARCH FUNDED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH An archive of research funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) from 1987 forward is available in the NIDRR Program Directory (http://www.naric.com/ research/pd/). NIDRR funding of rehabilitation projects was compiled from this directory and is illustrated in Figure 2. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] However, determining the exact funding level for 2002 to 2004 (Figure 2) was difficult, since two of the research centers included in these data also performed research in areas other than robotics. NIDRR funding mechanisms for rehabilitation include large center grants (Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers [RERCs]), Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, and Field Initiated Project (FIP) grants. The funding data shown in Figure 2 are based on Federal fiscal-year data and do not include no-cost extensions or supplemental grant funds. NIDRR's first rehabilitation grant was awarded in 1988 to Gaulladet University (Washington, DC) for the project Robotic finger spelling hand for communication and access to text by deaf-blind persons. In this project, the researchers developed and tested a prototype robotic hand. This device was never commercialized, but given the advances in robotic technology since 1988, the concept remains relevant for future research. Since 1987, NIDRR has funded two RERCs in rehabilitation robotics. The first RERC was at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (Wilmington, Delaware) and was funded from 1993 to 1997. The second RERC at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois) received funding in 2002 for a 5-year period. The RERC on Rehabilitation Robotics to Enhance the Functioning of Individuals with Disabilities at the Applied Science and Engineering Laboratories, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, and the University of Delaware focused on interfaces, design and application, and motor control of rehabilitation robotics, as well as related information and dissemination. Within its research focus, this RERC conducted interdisciplinary research and information projects. Research and information activities were constituent-oriented and included the implementation of a consumer innovation laboratory. …