Review of Recent Research Trends in Assistive Technologies for Rehabilitation

Globally, there is more than half a billion disabled people due to physical, mental, or sensory deficiencies. Rehabilitation technologies help people with disabilities become more self-reliant and able to participate and integrate into work, school, social environments, or their everyday life more easily through the use of rehabilitation and assistive technologies. Assistive technologies are any hardware or software products designed to help people with disabilities to conserve or recover their functioning and improve their independence, leading to promotion of their well-being. This paper presents a review of state-of-the-art assistive technologies, their types, applications, selection criteria, challenges, and how can they be used in rehabilitation. Moreover, the paper sheds the light on the recent and promising research trends in the fields of knowledge that constitute rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies.