This paper presents and studies various selected literature primarily from conference proceedings, journals and clinical tests of the robotic, mechatronics, neurology and biomedical engineering of rehabilitation robotic systems. The present paper focuses of three main categories: types of rehabilitation robots, key technologies with current issues and future challenges. Literature on fundamental research with some examples from commercialized robots and new robot development projects related to rehabilitation are introduced. Most of the commercialized robots presented in this paper are well known especially to robotics engineers and scholars in the robotic field, but are less known to humanities scholars. The field of rehabilitation robot research is expanding; in light of this, some of the current issues and future challenges in rehabilitation robot engineering are recalled, examined and clarified with future directions. This paper is concluded with some recommendations with respect to rehabilitation robots.
Disability self-help organizations have emerged as an important element of response to the advancement of people with disabilities throughout the developing world in recent years. There are now self-help organizations in all regions of the developing world, their memberships are growing, and the scope of their activities is enlarging. This paper draws on field research in Malaysia to present an organization developed by and for people with physical disabilities as a case study of self-help action in the Southeast Asian region. This paper reviews the origins and growth of the organization, describes its current programme of activities, and offers comment about the nature and future of disability self-help in the region and its continued advancement in the developing world generally. A combination of internal factors that relate to organization and programming, and external political and social conditions is indicated as important.