Rehabilitation robotics in robotics for healthcare; A roadmap study for the European Commission

To gain understanding in the current status of Robotics in healthcare the European Commission issued a roadmap study into this domain. This paper reports on the main characteristics and results of this study. The study covered the wide domain of healthcare and in this paper the domains relevant for rehabilitation robotics are highlighted. The study ultimately resulted in a range of required or foreseen developments foreseen in six areas of healthcare robotics regarding societal needs, innovations and technology. These developments were positioned along a timescale running till 2025. This study will guide the policy development of the 7^th and 8^th framework of the EC.