Robotics for neurorehabilitation: opportunities and challenges to address unmet clinical needs and promote a sustainable integration with AI

Workshop Proposal Title: Robotics for neurorehabilitation: opportunities and challenges to address unmet clinical needs and promote a sustainable integration with AI Organizers: • Stefano Mazzoleni, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Politecnico di Bari, Italy, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy and Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (SIRN). • Nevio Luigi Tagliamonte, Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Research Unit of Advanced Robotics and HumanCentered Technologies, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy. Format: 90-min workshop, with invited engineering and clinical speakers with a focus on technology design and clinical translation. 60 minutes will be dedicated to the presentation (including Q&A) from invited speakers and 30 minutes will be dedicated to a round table for discussion. Objectives and main topics: Robotic devices are becoming increasingly relevant in neurorehabilitation to support functional assessment and therapy. The design of such systems is extremely complex and their effectiveness is still under continuous investigation through both clinical trials and real-world applications. Over the past years, considerable progress has led to the development of both experimental prototypes and commercially available devices, which are now used in a variety of clinical settings. Despite these advancements, important challenges remain. These include the need for greater personalization of therapy, improved human–robot interaction, better strategies to ensure long-term patient engagement, and robust integration with existing rehabilitation protocols and multidisciplinary workflows. Moreover, the disruptive adoption of ML/DL algorithms can also play a key role in adjusting robotic action, promoting an effective use, and evaluating the impact of different types of interfaces and feedback modalities. This workshop aims to critically examine technological advances as well as persistent gaps that limit their broader impact. By reflecting on what has been achieved and what still needs to be addressed, we seek to define future directions for research, innovation, and clinical implementation. Keywords: Robotic technologies for neurorehabilitation, robots in experimental trials, robots in clinical practice. Preferred date: October 18 List of speakers: The following speakers were contacted and already confirmed their participation: • Giovanni Morone, Associate Professor, University of L’Aquila and Italian Society of Neurological Rehabilitation (SIRN). • Marco Iosa, Associate Professor, University Sapienza. • Federica Bressi, Full Professor, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (SIMFER) • Francesca Cordella, Associate Professor, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and co-chair of the IEEE/RAS Technical Committee on Rehabilitation and Assistive Robotics. 2025 I-RIM Conference October 17-19, Rome, Italy ISBN: 9788894580570 10.5281/zenodo.17629624 30 Expected number of attendees and target audience: Speakers from the engineering, robotics and clinical domains, with a strong link to clinical applications of technologies, are invited. Attendees from both the clinical and engineering domains are expected to be attracted due to the clinically oriented nature of the workshop. In particular, we aim to promote the workshop among PhD students, medical residents and researchers potentially interested in participating in the presented topics. Based on previous experience we expect at least 20 participants. Outcomes: • A similar format was already successfully explored in the workshops arranged by the same organizers during I-RIM 2022, 2023 and 2024 conference editions. Hence, this workshop builds on the legacy of past editions and aims to continue this ongoing and evolving scientific dialogue, also setting the stage for future iterations, among different scientific and technological domains, in particular bioengineering and neurorehabilitation. • The intrinsic hybrid nature of the workshop, with topics from engineering domain and clinical applications, is expected to promote cross–fertilization among the two areas and also to improve the possible contact of clinical researchers and also rehabilitation professionals with the I-RIM community. Plan for Special Issue or Session: The last part of the workshop (30 min) will be dedicated to the general discussion on the topics presented by the speakers. The round table will be also dedicated to evaluate potential editorial outcomes (e.g., a special issue, a review, or alternatively, identifying a conference at which to propose a special session). Call for extended abstracts: We plan to issue a call for abstracts with contents in line with the topics. The call will be shared in relevant scientific societies, in particular SIRN and SIMFER, and received abstracts will be revised, together with the I-RIM scientific committee, to guarantee the compliance with the workshop objectives. Workshop webpage: A dedicated webpage for the workshop will be prepared upon acceptance of the proposal. The location of the page is not yet planned but the link will be spread in relevant mailing lists and connected scientific societies, as well as in academic LinkedIN profiles. Notes on registration: The free one-day registrations will be used to invite two clinical experts who are typically not involved in I-RIM conference and would not register on their own initiative. By offering them the opportunity to attend and speak at the workshop, we aim to foster stronger connections between the clinical and technological communities, broaden the discussion, and bring valuable real-world perspectives to the audience. This will also help engage clinicians more actively in future editions of the conference. Additional notes: To maximize the impact and to improve resonance and participation, we propose to group all perspective workshops compatible with the themes in the proposed one in a “Series of Workshops on Robotics and Intelligent Machines for Rehabilitation” under the umbrella of the I-RIM Working Group on Rehabilitation Robotics (chaired by the organizers of this workshop). 31