This edited volume is part of the “Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics” series, which has included over 100 volumes since 2003. Typical contributions to this series are edited compilations, often from symposia and often involving invited contributors. This volume is of the latter family: it is a collection of 17 chapters in the field of assistive and rehabilitation robots.
The volume presents a snapshot of recent technological developments involving a diverse collection of applications and contexts: for example, human walking aids, wearable robotics, and sign language tutoring. Technologies that are drawn upon in the applications include machine learning, fuzzy reasoning, brain-machine interfaces, and robust control approaches. The book is around 450 pages, and each chapter is 20 to 30 pages, providing space for introductory material, and then descriptions of various technical results.
From this brief description, I have tried to convey a sense of the book: for newcomers to the field, it could offer a light-touch introduction to the technological diversity in the field, across topics in artificial intelligence and mechatronics, with one chapter addressing ethical and social issues.
Disappointingly, the introductory material by the editors is brief, a three-page overview, mentioning the topics of each chapter, but with no framework to explain why these topics were chosen or to what extent they seek to provide coverage of recent developments in the field. There is no attempt at synthesis of the material, and there are no survey papers. To me, none of the individual chapters stood out as presenting a subfield overview; rather, each provides a localized example of research within a subfield. This sense of a smorgasbord is reinforced by the lack of a topic index.
Although described as a resource for both seasoned researchers and newcomers, my impression is that this book would be most valuable as one of a number of starting points for readers looking for a flavor of the breadth and diversity of technological advances needed to make progress in this dynamic field of growing importance.